The Secret Life of Lavinia
by Heart of the Night Fury
Summary: Hi. My name's Lavinia, but my friends and bros call me Nia. I'm your regular, badass kunoichi from NYC. I've lived in the sewers for the passed 8 years, training with my bros. I've had to fight mutants, ninja armies, and the Shredder himself. There isn't anything too challenging for me. Well... maybe one thing. I think I might have a crush on my hotheaded best friend. Any advice?
1. Victory Tastes Sweet

**SURPRIZE!**

 ***Any one who hasn't read the first story, The Interesting Life of Lavinia, please read that first before reading this.  
** **I'm talking to you, Guest who called my character a Mary Sue***

* * *

The Secret Life of Lavinia

Prologue: Part 1  
Victory Tastes Sweet

I'm not sure exactly how long I slept. It could've been 8 minutes, could've been 8 hours. All I know is that I seemed to have closed my eyes for only a few moments before they were open again. My whole body felt surprisingly stiff. Well, maybe it wasn't that surprising, considering what all it went through yesterday. Infiltrating TCRI, fighting a bunch of Kraang droids, and nearly getting blown up with the Technodrome might do that to you. Still, I didn't want to get up just yet; my bed has never felt so comfortable in my life. I managed to tilt my head up enough until I could see the clock on my side table. It showed that it was just passed 10am. I can't remember the last time I've slept in that much; it felt pretty great.

Groaning slightly, I slowly sat up in my bed, yawning as I stretched. I managed to pull my covers off as I got out of bed. I looked down and saw that I was still wearing Angus'- or rather, my- green flannel. Deciding it was best to change out of it, I walked over to my dresser and swapped my flannel for a pale, purple muscle shirt.

After changing, I shuffled out of my room and walked through the hallway. All the other bedrooms doors where closed; the boys must still be asleep. I continued walking until I reached the bathroom. It wasn't huge, but it was large enough to hold a shower, a toilet, and a long counter with two sinks. There was usually enough room for me and the boys to get done without any complaints. As I entered the bathroom, I was surprised to see Leo standing in front of one of the sinks, currently brushing his teeth. He was only wearing his elbow and knee pads, and his blue mask hung around his neck. He turned as I walked in.

"Hey Nia," he said, his mouth full of toothpaste.

"Hey," I walked past him and stopped at the other sink. "Did you sleep alright?"

Leo shrugged before spitting in the sink. "Not bad. You?"

"Are you kidding? I'm stiff as board."

Leo chuckled as he wiped his face off with a towel.

"Well, we all took a beating yesterday. No surprise there."

I turned the faucet onto the cold water. I cupped my hands underneath and splashed my face. The cold water woke me up a little more.

"Anyone else up?" I asked as I washed my face.

"Splinter's meditating in his room, the others are still in bed," Leo turned to look at me. "How're you feeling?"

I looked up at him as I started to dry my face with a towel. The look in his eyes told me exactly what he meant, and I didn't mind at all.

"I'm okay. You?"

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence, broken only by the still running faucet in front of me. Then, the bathroom door banged open, and Mikey stood there, completely awake. He also only had his elbow and knee pads on, but he was wearing his orange mask.

"Ooh! You're up!" he said, running up to me. "Good! We got work to do!"

"Wha-?"

Before I could even ask, Mikey had grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom. I was able to see the confused look on Leo's face before he was out of sight.

"Mikey, what is it?" I asked as he dragged me across the living room. "What's going on?"

"Breakfast!"

I blinked. Mikey continued to drag me until we had entered the kitchen. He then released me as he stood in front of me, his eyes wide as he beamed at me.

"Today's our first day of celebrating our awesome win!" he said, punching a fist into the air. "We're gonna make victory pancakes!"

I raised my eyebrows. "What're victory pancakes?"

"I don't know, but we're about to find out!"

He ran up behind me and pushed me forward towards the counter. He sped past me and instantly came back with a large bowl. He placed it down in front of us, and stood there, bouncing on his toes. I looked at him, and he looked at me with excitement in his eyes. It was clear that this was something he was dying to do with me. Mikey usually makes everything by himself, so I don't usually get to cook with him. But, it seemed like it would be fun. I smiled as I took out a hair tie and began putting my hair up in a low ponytail.

"Well, we oughta get to cooking then," I said. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving, and we don't want anyone else waking up hungry."

Mikey smiled. "You're right!" he said happily.

"So," I opened a drawer and took out a wooden spoon. "How many should we make?"

"Enough to feed us for eternity!" Mikey cried, jumping up and throwing his arms out.

"So about 20 or so," I said plainly, as though he didn't just make a ridiculous outburst.

The next 30 minutes were spent with us making the actual pancakes. Mikey was very enthusiastic and playful throughout the whole thing, and I couldn't help but join in. It was so fun making something with him. Halfway through, Mikey started to think I wasn't being playful enough and began throwing flour at me. Of course, I threw some flour right back at him. By the end of it we were both messy; our faces, hands and chests were covered in flour and pancake dough. Neither of us cared though, we were having too much fun to care about how much flour we had on our cheeks.

"Are the pans set?" I asked as I continued stirring the batter.

"Hot and ready," said Mikey, hovering over two large pans on the stove.

"So," I brought the bowl over on the counter next to him. "What exactly are you planning on putting in these victory pancakes?"

"Oh, right!" Mikey giggled. "Check this out!"

He sped past me and reached underneath the cupboard, making lots of banging noises. After a few moments he popped back up, holding a very unique combination of ingredients in his hands.

"Mini marshmallows and sprinkles!" he said brightly.

I stared at him as he stood there, holding the two items tightly.

"Mikey, have you ever made pancakes with these before?" I asked.

"No."

"Then, are you sure it's a good idea to test them out now?"

"C'mon, Nia! It'll be perfect!" Mikey begged.

"Well…"

"I even got rainbow sprinkles," Mikey sang, waving the large bottle in front of me. "Same ones you like on your pizza!"

I eyed the rainbow filled bottle lovingly. I did like those little things. I looked from the bottle to Mikey's adorably excited face, and I caved in.

"I can never say no to you," I sighed.

Mikey squealed. "Yes!"

I smiled as we began to finally make Mikey's special 'victory pancakes'. Though odd, I had to admit, they did look pretty tasty. They certainly smelled nice, that's for sure.

"Dude, the guys are gonna love this!" Mikey said happily as I placed three more finished pancakes to the pile on the big plate.

"I'm sure they will," I said as I looked back at the last few in the pans. "After all, they liked your pizza noodle soup, didn't they?"

"Yep! And they'll like this, too. Oh, hey Raph!"

I whipped around. Raph had just walked in through the kitchen curtains. I felt my grip on the spatula tighten immensely.

"Sup," he said, and he looked up at me. "Hey, Nia."

I gulped, then said shortly, "Hi."

Raph looked at my face, squinted at me, then started chuckling.

"What?"

"You mean… you don't know?" he asked, still chuckling.

I frowned. "Don't know what?"

"Nia, you're covered in flour."

I placed a hand on my cheek, felt something soft on it, and I suddenly remembered that I was covered from head to foot in flour. I gasped, turning away from Raph. I raised my hands and brushed off as much flour as possible.

"Whatcha making?" I heard Raph ask.

"Breakfast," I said without thinking.

He rolled his eyes. "I know that. What're you making for breakfast?"

"Oh," I muttered, feeling very stupid. "They're… they're, um…"

"Victory pancakes!" Mikey said, bouncing forward and placing the plate full of pancakes on the table. "You know that, dudette!"

"Yeah," I said quickly, remembering. "Yeah, victory pancakes. You know, for winning the battle yesterday and all. It was Mikey's idea."

"Cool. So, what's in them?"

"Oh, um…" I gestured to the plate. "Mini marshmallows and… and sprinkles…"

Raph raised his eyebrows, staring at the pancakes. Then, he looked up at me.

"Let me guess, they were Mikey's idea, too?"

I nodded.

"These better not suck, Mikey."

"Have a little faith, dude!" Mikey said, appalled.

At that moment, the curtains opened again. Leo, Donnie, and Master Splinter all walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, my children," Sensei said warmly.

"Morning, Sensei," Mikey, Raph and I said in unison.

"What're you guys making?" asked Donnie as he walked over to the fridge.

"Nia and Mikey are making pancakes," said Raph.

"Victory pancakes!" Mikey yelled happily for what felt like the millionth time.

Sensei walked over towards me and Mikey. He looked at us both, eyes slightly narrow.

"My, what happened to you two?" he asked, pretending to look surprised. "It looks like you made quite the mess with the batter."

"Huh?" Mikey said, confused.

I nudged his shoulder and gestured around his face. He raised his hand and it was covered in flour when he lowered it.

"Oh, ha ha ha, right…" he mumbled.

Sensei raised his hands, holding two large hand towels. We both took them and began cleaning our faces. I heard sniggering, and I glanced over at the others to see them smirking at us.

"Shut up," I said harshly, walking back over to the stove.

Sensei turned and went to sit on his end of the table. As he did, he looked at the plate full of pancakes, and raised his eyebrows.

"Interesting combination you two came up with," he said to Mikey and I.

"It was Mikey's idea," I told him. "Pretty normal compared to what he usually makes, if you ask me."

"But, why marshmallows and sprinkles?" Leo said, poking the huge tower of pancakes cautiously.

"I guess 'cause it's never been made before," I placed the last three pancakes on a separate plate. "I don't think anyone's ever had this kind of combination, but I'm sure it tastes good."

"Keep in mind, Nia," said Donnie as he placed the milk jug on the counter. "This is Mikey we're talking about; the same guy who thought making a pizza milkshake would be a good idea."

Mikey glared at his brother as I rolled my eyes.

"Well, we won't know until we try it. Here."

I shoved the plate into Donnie's hands, who took it, surprised. I turned around without saying a word and grabbed the rest of the plates, bringing them over to the table. Leo went over to the milk jug and started pouring a glass for everyone. Within a few minutes, we were all sitting at the table, plates full of pancakes in front of us.

"The moment of truth!" Mikey said, picking up one of his pancakes with his hands. "Victory!"

And without any hesitation, he took a huge bite out of it. A second later he beamed.

"It's amazing!" he cried.

I chuckled, but the guys shook their head, looking at their plates with caution. I don't blame them. Mikey had a habit of finding even the most disgusting things edible, so his word wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Well, if you guys are gonna be babies about it," I said, picking up a pancake.

"Hey!" Raph snapped.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, go on then, tough guy. Take a bite."

Raph glared at me for a moment, then glared at his plate. He let out an irritated noise, snatched up a pancake, and took a bite out of it. For a moment, he sat there, chewing. Then…

"It's… not bad," he said lowly, sounding more surprised than anything.

"Well, good enough for me," I said.

I looked my pancake for a moment before taking a bit. It was a little chewier thanks to the marshmallows, but it was really good.

The boys seemed convinced, and they started to eat as well. Everyone, even Sensei, loved the pancakes. They all loved them so much that by the end of breakfast, there was only a few left. Nobody had the room to fit any more in their stomachs, so I put the rest in a package.

"Wait, I can fit a few more in," Mikey groaned, letting out a loud burp.

"I think you've had enough, dude," I said. "So have the rest of you."

"That was a great breakfast," said Sensei. "And, I am sure that you will all be happy to know that, under the circumstances, there will be no training today."

At this, we all started to whoop and holler happily. I clapped excitedly before calming down beginning to pick up the plates.

"Mikey, help me clean up."

"What? But, Nia-"

"You helped make this mess, you help clean it up."

"Aww, man!" Mikey whined, but he stood up from his seat and started to pick up the rest as well.

Sensei and the boys all began to stand up and leave, except for Raph, who was still in his seat.

"Gotta admit, I didn't think these were gonna be that good," he said, popping the last bit of pancake into his mouth. "Not bad, guys."

"Told you it'd be awesome!" said Mikey.

Raph rolled his eyes as he stood up from his chair, then he looked directly at me. It was at that moment that I realized I had been staring at him the whole time. My forehead started to feel warm, and I quickly turned away, picking up the plates. I caught Raph looking at me out the corner of my eye, then he turned and left the kitchen.

"C'mon, Nia!" said Mikey. "I'm not washing these all by myself!"

* * *

"Thanks for helping me look after Timothy, Nia," said Donnie. "It's nice to actually get some help with him."

"No problem," I said.

While Donnie was busy working a screwdriver on one corner of the mechanical tank, I was busy cleaning the glass. Timothy seemed to just make infinite amounts of goo, and it always spilled over and made a mess. None of the others liked helping Donnie on a regular basis to begin with, so you can guess how much they'd like to help him now. So, even though it was totally gross, I was happy to help Donnie out.

I soaked the rag in the bucket of water again and scrubbed the glass. You know, it wouldn't kill the others to help out a little. Leo could probably help me clean, Mikey at the very least could keep us entertained with his corny jokes, Raph could…

I felt my mind start to wonder as I thought of Raph, and as it did, it landed on the memory of last night. Not on our long talk, oh no; it landed on what happened after the talk. I suddenly started to think about when he had kissed my cheek. It was so confusing. I mean, the guys have kissed my cheek before- mostly when we were little- but Raph never did, ever. So, why did he last night? Was it because he was so overjoyed that we had all made it back alive? Was he just happy about the promise I made him? Perhaps, but that still doesn't seem like enough to me. _Why do I care so much?_ I asked myself. _The guys have given me friendly kisses before, why does it matter so much that Raph finally did, too?_

"Nia!"

I snapped my head up and looked at Donnie. He had apparently been saying my name several times, and I hadn't been paying attention.

"I- What?" I stammered.

"You've been cleaning the same spot for the past 5 minutes," said Donnie. "Are you okay?"

"What?" I repeated. "Oh, um… Yeah, I'm fine."

Donnie frowned. "Why don't we take a break?" he suggested.

I shrugged. "Sure."

Donnie set his wrench into his toolbox and I dropped my rag in the bucket. We both turned and headed towards the exit, but Donnie put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Donnie," I said confidently. "I swear, I'm fine! No worries."

Donnie looked at me for a few moments, his eyes studying me. Then, he gave a small nod, and continued on. I sighed quietly as I followed him. I felt my T-Phone buzz and took it out. It was a text message from Vanessa.

 **Hey girl! How's it going?**

I quickly messaged back.

 _ **It's okay. You?**_

 **Pretty good! Me and Angus are hanging out at my friend Charlie's place. You wanna come?**

I thought about it. I'd love to hang out with Vanessa and Angus, and it would be nice to see Charlie again. But, we were still trying to get everything back to normal here. It would probably be better to just stay here this time.

 _ **No, not today. I kinda wanna just stay home now.**_

 **It's cool, I get it.**

I grinned.

 **Hey, Nia! I bet I can get you to say red.**

I chuckled.

 _ **You're on.**_

 **What color is the sky?**

 _ **Blue.**_

 **Ha! I knew I could get you to say it!**

 _ **No you didn't, you said red.**_

 **AHA!**

I stared down at the text message before I started to laugh.

* * *

I can't sleep. No matter how hard I try I just can't, my body won't let me. Glancing at my clock, I saw that it was a little past 1am. I sighed irritably as I got out of bed and walked out of my room. I made sure to tiptoe quietly past the bedrooms as I walked down the hallway. I walked towards the kitchen, thinking maybe some tea would help me relax.

I pushed open the curtains and peeked inside. No one was in there. I sighed thankfully as I went over to the cupboard and took out a pot. I hummed quietly as I filled it with water and put it on the stove. Now, I love drinking green tea with Sensei, but if I had to choose which kind of tea was my favorite, it would have to be honey herbal tea. It was so good and it was great for calming my nerves.

I waited for about 10 minutes before the pot started to squeak. I took it off the burner and set it off to the side before grabbing the tea box and a mug, setting them on the counter. Then, I heard a small knocking from behind me. I turned. Donnie was standing there, his hand on the doorframe.

"Hey," he said.

I stared at him. "Donnie, it 1 in the morning. What're you still doing up?"

"I've been busy," he said, walking forward and sitting at the table. "Working on some stuff. Why are you up?"

I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. Want some tea?"

"Sure."

I reached up in the cupboard and grabbed another mug. Donnie remained silent as I made our tea, but I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I ignored this and brought over his mug.

"Thanks," he said, taking it from me.

I nodded as I sat next to him. For a little bit, we just sat there in silence, drinking our tea. Then, I decided to ask him.

"So, why are you really up this late, Donnie?" I asked him.

He looked up at me over his mug as he drank. Then he set it down gently.

"Well… I have been working on some stuff," he said. "You know, fixing up Metalhead, making sure Timothy is okay. But, that's not all I've been doing."

"Yeah?" I egged him on.

Donnie tapped his finger on the table, considering his words.

"I've been keeping track of the Kraang communication device."

I raised my eyebrow. "That giant golf ball? Why?"

"Because…" Donnie sighed. "I'm… I'm scared that it might go off again, while we're asleep. That, somehow, the Kraang might come back and start up the invasion again. I just… wanna be there in case it happens so that nothing bad happens to us in our sleep, you know?"

I took a sip of my tea. "Donnie, nothing bad is gonna happen. We stopped the Kraang, we trashed the Technodrome. Hell, that thing is at the bottom of the East River right now, I highly doubt anything is gonna happen."

Donnie still looked worried. I leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder

"Trust me, Donnie, if they do come back, we'll be ready for them," I assured him. "Just promise me you'll get some sleep and not stress over this."

Donnie looked up at me, and nodded. I grinned as I leaned back in my seat.

"Well, I've told you my story," Donnie said, turning to face me. "So, how about you tell me yours."

"What're you talking about?"

"I'm talking about why you're out here and not in bed."

I gripped my mug a little tighter as I stared at him.

"Come on, Nia, you can tell me," he said. "Is there anything on your mind?"

My mind quickly went back to last night with Raph. I gulped and nodded.

"Anything bad?"

I had to think about that for a moment. I know that this whole thing shouldn't be a big deal, but the way it was making me feel made it seem like it was. So, did I think it was bad for Raph to kiss me? No, of course not. I'm just a little confused as to why he did it.

"No," I said. "I don't think so."

Donnie gestured for me to continue.

"It's…" I let out a laugh. "I'm probably just being stupid. You don't need to worry about it, it's okay."

I took a long gulp from my mug, not looking at Donnie. But, I could tell he was looking at me.

"Nia, even if it is stupid, I'll still listen," he said. "It's okay."

I looked over at him, saw the sincerity in his small brown eyes, and I gave in.

"Okay," I bit my bottom lip. "Well… before I went to sleep yesterday, Raph came into my room."

And I told Donnie about the conversation I had with Raph. I told him everything up until I got to the part where he kissed my cheek. I was just considering not telling him, but something about my expression must have given me away, because Donnie was looking at me curiously.

"And?" he asked. "What happened then?"

My stomach felt like it had millions of worms swimming around inside it. Why was I this nervous about it? I took a deep breath.

"He kissed me."

For a moment, Donnie stared at me, his face expressionless. Then, he blinked several times.

"He… what?"

"On the cheek," I added.

Donnie glanced around, tapping his fingers against his mug. I sat there, fiddling with my fingers, waiting for a response.

"Do you think it was bad that he…?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"So, why has it been on your mind all day then?"

"How do you know it's been on my mind all day?" I asked quickly, and defensively.

"Well, you've been kinda off all day," Donnie admitted. "I assumed it might've been because of what happened with the invasion and all, but that's clearly not it," he tilted his head as he looked at me. "So, why does it bother you so much?"

I sighed, folding my arms on the table surface.

"It doesn't bother me at all," I confessed. "Not in the slightest. It's just… a bit surprising, that's all. We've hugged before, but he's never been that affectionate. Mind you, he's not really that affectionate with anyone."

I gave a small laugh to break some of the tension building up. It didn't exactly work, but it helped me a little. I kept myself from groaning as I picked my mug up and drank some of my tea again. As I looked over at Donnie, I saw he was looking at me with strange curiosity.

"Can I… ask you something?" he asked.

I nodded.

"How exactly did you feel when it happened? Besides surprised, I mean."

I glanced around, trying to remember exactly how I felt; it wasn't hard.

"I kinda tensed up for some reason," I told him. "And my stomach felt weird, like it was full, but empty at the same time."

"And afterward," he said. "Once he left your room, how'd you feel?"

"My hands were kinda tingly, and my stomach kinda bubbly," I groaned. "I know, it sounds weird…"

"No," Donnie said quickly. "It isn't weird at all."

I looked over at him. "Well, I answered you questions. What do you think it is, braniac?"

Donnie glanced around, clearly in thought. For a moment, I thought I saw his eyes widen in realization, but it was gone before I could see properly. Then, he stood up and walked around the table.

"Why don't you just let it settle in for a few days," he said as he set his mug next to the sink. "See what happens later. If, after a day or two, it isn't bugging you anymore, don't worry about it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, okay."

Donnie nodded, thanked me for the tea, and began to leave the kitchen.

"Hey, Donnie?"

He stopped walking and looked at me.

"Could we just keep this between us?" I asked. "I mean, this isn't really a big deal, and I don't want the other two to think I worried over something stupid or anything."

Donnie nodded. "No problem. Goodnight, Nia."

And he left me in the kitchen. I thought about everything that he said as I sipped on my tea.


	2. Birthday Surprise

**Hey guys, it's me! Look, I know that I've been a while, but a lot has been going on at home. I've had to do chore, and I've had an online class to take care off. I haven't really had a lot of chance to focus on writing. But, I'm here with the next part, and since my online class just ended, the next one should be up sooner. Now, as you can tell, this prologue is similar to the one in Season One- very feeling, very fun, and not a lot of action. That's because these Prologues are generally meant for character development, and to see what's happening before the actual season where the action happens.**

 **So, with that being said, be warned that there is some stuff in here that might be considered... ugh... "fluff"... but I swear, it's for character development, just as this whole Prologue is gonna be. Plus, I think it turned out great. So, I hope you like it.**

* * *

Prologue: Part 2  
Birthday Surprise

(3 days since battle)

 **Mikey's P.O.V.**

Man, things are way too quiet here today. I always thought that after we stopped the Kraang, we'd be partying everyday here! But, Nia and the guys are all about relaxing and getting back to normal. Ha! Since when is anything here normal? Still, it would be cool to actually do something instead of just sitting here.

I was just laying upside down on the couch, watching the TV. Not even cartoons could help me right now. I was so bored! I had to find something to do or I was gonna go crazy. I sighed as I glanced next to me, and saw my T-Phone lying next to my head on the floor. I looked at it for a moment, then reached over and grabbed it. My hands seemed to be moving on their own as they opened up to my messages, and I started typing a message to Vanessa.

 _ **Hey Ness, what's up?**_

I sat there, still upside down, looking at my phone. Vanessa's a funny girl, maybe she can help me out. I'm easily impressed, anyway.

 _ **Hey buddy! Nothing much here. You?**_

I grinned. For some reason, I always got wicked excited whenever she messaged me back. I quickly sat up straight and started texting her back.

 _ **Dude, I'm so bored! Everyone's busy!**_

 _ **Wow, sorry man. I had plans too, but they got totally botched!**_

 _ **Sucks! What're you doing now, then?**_

 _ **Working on another mosaic. Not selling, but it's really important. I can't think of anything good to make though.**_

 _ **Need any help?**_

 _ **I'd love some!**_

I looked at my phone's screen for a moment, then gasped in excitement. I had nothing to do, Vanessa had nothing to do, we could hang out together! Wait a minute… it would just be me and her hanging out. I mean, I've hung out with April and Nia before a bunch of times, but never Vanessa. She always came here, and she always hung out with all of us. Wait, why am I being all nervous about this? Well… maybe I know why… Pfft! Whatever! It's not a big deal!

 _ **Dude, I can totally help you!**_

 _ **Really?**_

 _ **Totally!**_

 _ **Well, I'm all alone except for my brother, so you should be good. Sure, come mon over. I'll send you my address.**_

I giggled out loud before I could stop myself. This was gonna be so awesome!

"Busy day, Mikey?"

I yelped and thrashed around, falling down off the couch. I landed on my chest and my phone flew out of my hand. Somebody giggled behind me, and I looked around. Nia was kneeling by the couch where I was sitting, and she was holding her stomach and laughing.

"Not cool, sis!" I yelled, swiping my phone up.

"I'm sorry!" she pleaded, whipping her eyes. "I couldn't help it! Then, you started giggling… it was adorable!"

I opened my mouth to tell her that I wasn't adorable, but then I realized that that would be a complete lie, and shrugged it off.

"Good point."

I put my phone into my belt and stood up, brushing myself off. I smoothed my hands over my head, and tightened the tails of my mask.

"Hey, Nia? How, um… how do I look?"

"A lot goofier than usual," she said. "And trust me, that's a good thing. Vanessa _loves_ anything that can give her a good laugh."

"Awesome!"

I turned and leaped out of the pit, snatching my skateboard on the way out. I kept running and jumped over the turnstiles, landing on my skateboard on the other side.

Me and the bros have already been all over Manhattan by now, so it wasn't too much to go to Vanessa's place. She lived in the middle of East Village, in a super tall red brick building. I recognized it from the night when I found her cat, Mittens. Based on what she told me, she lived in the middle.

* * *

I rolled my skateboard down the sidewalk, looking around to see no one in the street. I grinned as I rolled into the next alley. Her building was right up there. I looked around until I saw one certain window that had a small, black and white cat sitting on the windowsill.

"Mittens?" I called up, trying not to be too loud.

The cat turned its head towards me. Mittens was no longer a little kitty; she had grown a lot since the last time I had seen her. I grinned, realizing that it was the right window. I strapped my board to my shell and leapt up, climbing the fire escape. I continued up until I stood right in front of the window that Mittens was sitting on. The cat looked up at me with wide, shiny eyes.

"Hey kitty," I cooed, raising my hand. "Remember me?"

I placed my hand on her head, and Mittens leaned into my touch, purring. I grinned down at her. Then, I heard loud banging and yelling coming from the other side of the window, and I snapped up and leaned back out of sight. I heard a lot of noises going on, and I slowly leaned forward. This window apparently lead to what looked like the living room. It was pretty, and big. And from here, I could see a little boy with dirty blond hair sitting in front of the TV, playing with some toys. That must be Vanessa's little brother, Colton.

I heard Mittens meow loudly, and I turned to see she had leapt over to the next window over, which happened to be opened. She meowed again before turning and leaping into the room. I looked at her curiously before walking over, and leaning in to look. This was obviously Vanessa's room. The first things I noticed were the pretty, white lights that were lined up along the ceiling. They looked like the kind that people put around their Christmas trees. The next thing I saw was a big, wooden desk in the far corner, filled with pencils, paintbrushes, several notebooks, and a pink lamp on one of the corners. Other than the lamp and the lights on the ceiling, the room was kind of dark, like when someone only lights a room with a few candles, you know? That kind of dark.

At that moment, the door opened. Vanessa came in, a Coke in one hand and her phone in the other. I noticed that there was a purple pen tucked behind her ear.

"Colton, I'll be in my room, okay buddy?" she called out behind her. "Don't go in the kitchen, okay?"

"Okay!" a small voice called back.

Vanessa shut the door, sipping on her soda. She glanced at her phone, and sighed.

"Maybe he's not coming…"

I blinked. Was I late? Was I supposed to be her sooner? _Aw man, I suck!_

Vanessa tossed her phone onto her aqua blue bed next to Mittens before walking over to her desk and sitting in the chair. I saw her pull her pen out from her ear, and she started drawing in one of the notebooks. I grinned as I reached up and knocked on the edge of the window. Vanessa froze, then whipped around. Then she squealed, quickly covering her mouth.

"Mikey!" she dropped her pen and ran forward, opening the window all the way. "Wow, I almost thought you wouldn't come!"

"Course I did! Wouldn't want you thinking I stood you up!"

She backed up as I pushed myself through the window, landing on my feet. I heard a loud meow and felt something rubbing against my leg. I looked down to see Mittens rubbing her head against me. _Aww, the little kitty likes me!_ I chuckled and kneeled down to pet her head.

"Good thing you came," Vanessa said, kneeling down on the other side of Mittens and petting her. "I was really started to get bored on my own."

"Why did you're plans get canceled?" I asked. "You're stuck here alone and bored, that's not very fair!"

"Oh, it's not a big deal," she said. "My friend, Charlie- Nia's probably told you about him- he and his parents are going on a vacation to Paris tomorrow. We originally had plans to go to the movies tonight, but they had to leave tomorrow instead of Saturday because things got moved up."

"Wow… they're going to Paris?"

Vanessa stared at me, and for a moment I was afraid she was going question why that was the only detail I was paying attention to. But, she just smiled and laughed.

"Yeah, Paris," she said. "Charlie's mom and dad are both topnotch doctors, so their super rich. They've got a summer home in Paris that they go to for 2 weeks every summer."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "Man, I'd love to go to Paris someday. Charlie offered to take me this year, but my dad's not too keen on me leaving. Pretty protective, you know?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know how you feel."

Vanessa giggled as she scratched Mitten's head. "Oh yeah, I bet Splinter gets on you guys a lot."

"More than enough," I told her seriously. "Hey, where are your parents anyway?"

"They both had to work tonight."

"Huh. What do they do?"

"My dad works as a nurse at the same hospital as Charlie's parents, and my mom owns her own boutique. 'Seasonal Fantasies'. Ever heard of it?"

I shook my head. "No, sounds cool though."

"Oh yeah, you'd love it," Vanessa seemed to hesitate before she leaned in a bit. "You see, my grandma from my mom's side, she and my grandpa were huge hippies in the 70s."

"Really?"

"Mmhm. They raised my mom around it all. Obviously, she inherited whatever hippie magic they bestowed upon her and she uses it for her boutique. She has a lot of amazing things in there, half of my closet is full of them."

I stared at Vanessa. I thought it was pretty cool that she came from a whole family of hippies; I bet her grandparents are awesome, and I bet her mom's awesome too! And her boutique did explain why Vanessa seemed to have a lot of hippie shirts and skirts whenever I saw her. But… what about her dad? I saw him the night we found Mittens, and he looked like regular kinda guy. How does a nurse end up marrying a hippie?

Before I could ask, Vanessa stood up and walked back to her desk.

"I'm glad you could actually come," said Vanessa as she sat back down at her desk. "I could really use a hand."

I stood up and walked over, but I accidently stepped on something and stopped. It was a crumpled up piece of paper. I picked it up and opened it. It looked like a large, cute red ladybug in the middle of a patch of grass.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked.

Vanessa stopped doodling in her notebook and turned around. She looked kind of nervous, but was grinning.

"I'm making another mosaic," she said. "But, I wanted to make it for someone special."

"Who?"

She gulped. "For… for the baby."

"Huh?"

"Angus' baby sister," she said. "I wanted to make something special, something for Angus' parents to hang on the wall or something. I thought it would be great, making something cute for her, but… I can't think of anything good!"

She turned around and looked down at her notebook. I leaned over her shoulder and saw what looked like a squirrel before she groaned and ripped the paper out of the book, balling it up and tossing it into the nearby trashcan, which was already overflowing with paper balls. I glanced down at the picture of the ladybug in my hands, then I folded it up and tucked it into my belt.

"Why do you want my help?" I asked, leaning against the edge of her desk.

Vanessa clicked her pen loudly for a moment, the she grinned up at me.

"Well, you're one of the most creative people I've met, I figured you could help me out," she admitted, then blushed as she added. "Plus… I thought it would be cool to hang out."

It felt like my stomach just did a sick backflip on a halfpipe. There seemed to be something stuck in my throat, so I didn't speak, but I swallowed and beamed at her.

"That's awesome!" I said, jumping up and landing on the other side of her. "I'd love to help yah!"

Vanessa beamed at me. Then she grabbed one of her colored pencils and handed it to me.

"Well, we better start brainstorming."

We probably spent about an hour trying to think of something for Vanessa to make, but we came up with nothing. No matter what we thought of, it always ended up being 'not cute enough' for Angus' little sister. And I ended up being in the same position as I had earlier; laying upside down on Vanessa's bed with my head off the edge. Vanessa was leaning back in her chair, her notebook laying on her face.

"What about a bird?" I asked.

"What kind?"

"I dunno, um… an owl?"

"Hm… maybe, but I don't really make owls that much. How about a lizard?"

"Nah… little kids don't like little creepy things that crawl around like that, right?"

"Oh man, you're right!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the bedroom door, and we both sat up straight.

"Vanessa?"

"Aw shoot!" Vanessa hissed. "I forgot to put Colton to bed! Hold on!"

She dropped her notebook and her pen and ran over to the door. She cracked it open just enough for her to be seen.

"Hey, pal! Ready to go to bed?"

"Uh-huh."

"Alright, let's get you in then."

She glanced back at me before squeezing out of the door and shutting it behind her. I sighed. Man, I got scared! I thought maybe her parents were home. If they saw me, Sensei would kill me! And the last thing I need is another 'it's too dangerous on the surface' talk.

I got off the bed and picked up the stuff she dropped, bringing it over and placing it on the desk. I noticed that the desk looked super banged up and worn out; it was covered in what looked like dried up gray plaster, probably from all the mosaics she makes, and it had a lot of scratches on it. I rubbed it with one of my fingers curiously; it felt worn, but nice. I turned and was heading back to sit down when I noticed something on the wall. It was a calendar for July, and I noticed that the 12th was circled in red, and there was a little red star drawn next to it.

At that moment, the door opened. Vanessa had come back from putting Colton to bed.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I was supposed to put him to bed an hour ago, but I got distracted."

Feeling embarrassed and a little happy that I had managed to distract her like that (no idea why that would make me happy though) I pointed at the calendar.

"Why do you have this date circled?" I asked.

She walked over to stand right next to me to look at the calendar. She was so close to me, I felt goosebumps pop up all over me.

"Oh, that!" she laughed. "I didn't tell you, did I? That's my birthday! I'm turning 17 in a week."

"Oh!" I stared at her. 17?! "Wow, I didn't know!"

"It's okay, I don't like talking about myself for too long anyhow," she said. "It's cool, though. Mom and dad are throwing me a party, everyone's coming over. I'm pretty sure mom's making my favorite cupcakes too, but she won't tell me."

"Aw man, that sounds awesome!" I whined. "I wish I could come."

"Oh, believe me, I do too," she said. "But, seeing as how my parents don't know you exist, it might be a bit shocking if four giant turtles showed up at their doorstep."

I frowned. "I'm not that scary looking, I'm adorable! Nia said so! And I'm super nice and super chill!"

Vanessa giggled. "Well, you're right on all of that," she said. "You are adorable, and you're very nice."

I felt my face go red. _She thinks I'm adorable, too!_ At that moment there was the sound of a distant door opening, and feet walking on wood.

"Vanessa, dear?" a man's voice called out. "Are you still up?"

"Vanessa, honey!"

"My parents are home," Vanessa looked at me. "You better split."

I sighed, nodding. I marched over to the window, petting Mittens on my way over. I took my skateboard from my shell and was leaning out the window when Vanessa spoke again.

"You know, my dad's gonna be working tomorrow, and my mom's taking my brother to the park until the evening," she said, and I turned to look at her. "If you're still bored tomorrow, wanna come over and hang out?"

I blinked, staring at her. Hang out… with Vanessa? And she's asking me?

"Yeah, sure!" I said excitedly.

Vanessa beamed at me.

"Great! I'll see you later, then!"

I nodded before turning and leaping out of the window.

* * *

Dude, Vanessa is awesome! I've been going over and hanging out at her place all week, and it's been great! It's so awesome being able to hang out with her. We usually just chill in her room, and when her parents aren't home we play video games in her living room. That's the best part about it all! Turns out, her idea of having a good time with me is ordering pizza, bumming around playing video games, and cuddling on the couch while watching old sitcoms. And it's the best! She's probably the best cuddler in the whole universe!

But, even while having a blast with her, one thing was stuck on my brain; her birthday. Now, I can manage to accept that my cuteness and chill personality won't be enough to get into her house party, and that's fine. But, what's been really bugging me is that… well… I don't have anything to give her. I mean, I know I can't exactly go into a story and buy her something, but I don't want to give her nothing! I'm hanging out with her the night before her birthday, and I can't go empty handed. I'm gonna feel like a chump if I can't figure something out!

So, what did I do? I talked to Splinter. Was it early in the day? Yes. Was he in the middle of meditating? Yeah. But, this was way more important than wasting time sitting on the floor with your eyes closed.

"Hey, Sensei!" I yelled, popping up behind him.

He didn't even flinch, but I knew he heard me. I quickly leapt forward and started pacing in front of him.

"Busy? No? Great! Listen, I need some advice for something super important. Can you help?"

He sighed, opening his eyes to look at me. "I suppose so-"

"Awesome! See, yah know how I've been visiting Vanessa for the past week? Well, it's her birthday on Friday, and I know I can't go there then 'cause she's having a party…"

"Michelangelo…"

"But, I'm gonna see her tomorrow night, and I'm gonna feel kinda crummy if I don't have anything for her. She says that it's okay, but it's not okay with me…"

"My son…"

"But… I don't have anything to give her! I mean, it's no big deal, but… it is! And I don't know what to do, so I-"

"Yame!"

I froze and straightened up. Sensei had stood up and banged his staff on the ground, forcing me to shut up. Then, I realized how much I had been talking, and what I had said, and my face started to go red.

"My son," said Splinter. "I have never seen you so unnerved about something before. Tell me, why does it matter so much to you that you give Vanessa something for her birthday."

I thought about it. Why did I care so much? She was my buddy, obviously. But… why else?

"I…"

I suddenly stopped talking and whipped around to make sure none of the guys or Nia were around. I mean, Nia wouldn't make fun of me, but the others definitely would.

"We are completely alone, my son," said Splinter. "You make speak freely."

I looked up at him, and nodded.

"I, um… I c-care about her, and… I want her to know that…"

Aw man, I sound so stupid right now! I don't sound chill at all. I'm not used to this, man…

"How much?"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"If you do care about her, I am curious to know how much."

I gulped. "Um… a lot?"

Splinter chuckled, and I took that as a good thing and laughed a little.

"So… what should I do?"

Splinter stroked his beard for a moment, his finger tapping on his staff.

"…You said earlier this week that she was making a mosaic for Angus' new sibling, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Has she started making it yet?"

I shook my head. "No, she hasn't even figured out what she's gonna make yet."

"I see…" Splinter looked down at me. "If you figured out something for her to make, then that would be a reasonable gift."

I thought it over for a second. Then I gasped.

"Thanks, Sensei!"

I turned and ran out of the dojo, sprinting through the living room and heading into my bed room. I searched for probably about a minute before I found a pencil sticking out of a stack of three-day-old pizza slices. I wiped it off and then went over and sat on my bed. Then, I reached behind me and took out the folded picture of the ladybug that I had taken from Vanessa's house. It was just a simple ladybug on the white sheet. I thought it looked pretty good, and couldn't see why she'd toss it. Maybe if I added something to it…

I grinned, then started to draw on the paper.

* * *

I sped over the rooftops as quick as I could. I couldn't be late! Vanessa just texted me and told me that her mom had stepped out for a work earlier, and that if I was gonna come, now would be a good time. I was happy to go see her, and I was so psyched to show her hat I added to the picture. I hope she likes it. It didn't really take a lot of thinking, not much work either, but I still, I hope she likes it.

I skidded to a halt until I reached the edge of the roof. I smiled seeing the small, glittering white lights from her window. I leaped forward, grabbing onto the fire escape, slid down, and stepped off. I quickly glanced in the living room window before moving over to Vanessa's bedroom window. I could see her sitting on the edge of her bed. I grabbed the edges of the window and started to lean in, when I heard it.

She sniffed loudly.

I froze, staring at the back of her head. She sniffed again. Was she crying? She turned her head slightly, and I saw she was holding a thick piece of cloth up against the corner of her mouth. She wiped her nose as she lowered the cloth, and I saw that the corner was red, puffy, and bloody; her lip was busted.

"Dude!"

Vanessa turned around so fast, she nearly fell of the bed. She gasped, looking terrified as she covered her lip with the cloth again.

"M-Mikey!" she stammered. "I- You scared me!"

I stared at her as I slowly stepped into the room. She stepped back, looking scared. Why was she scared of me?

"What's wrong, Ness?" I asked her.

"Nothing!" she said quickly. "Everything's fine."

"What happened to your lip?"

"It was an accident, nothing important."

"You were crying."

"I… well…"

Vanessa didn't seem to be able to respond. My feet suddenly started moving forward until I was in front of her. She didn't back up this time. I hesitantly reached up and grabbed her wrist that was holding the cloth. I lowered it, and I could see her mouth properly. It wasn't as bloody as I thought before. It looked like it was a few hours old. But, it was still red and raw.

"What… happened?" I breathed.

Vanessa gulped, turning her head away.

"It was just an accident," she muttered lowly.

"Was it really?"

Vanessa winced. "…no."

"Well?"

She shook her head. "I can't… it's embarrassing. You'll laugh at me!"

"Ness, you got hurt," I said. "I might be a Pranking Master and laugh a lot, but even I know when to take a hint."

Man, I've never felt so serious before. This must be what it's like to be Leo. Weird… but cool! But, also kinda bad. Whatever! Stay focused, Mikey!

Vanessa crossed her arms as she held herself, looking away. She continued to not look at me as she walked over and sat back down on her bed. She stared at the ground, swinging her feet.

"I know… it's gonna sound silly," she said. "I mean, I always act all nice and stuff, but…"

"What are you talking about?"

Vanessa groaned. "Caroline…"

"Who?"

"Caroline Druff. She's a girl that goes to my school. She used to be my friend but, after she joined the dance team in middle school, we sort of drifted apart."

I walked over and sat on the bed next to her. There was a loud meowing sound, and Mittens crawled out from underneath the bed.

"So, you got the whole 'best friend to mean girl' thing going on, huh?" I said. "That's rough."

Vanessa huffed. "Oh, she's more than a mean girl, I'll tell you…"

Her hand lifted up to touch her chin, and I gaped at her. Did she really mean…?

"She did that?!" I asked, shocked.

"Well… sort of," Vanessa admitted. "I mean, it was kinda my fault, so…"

"What happened?"

Vanessa kicked up her feet a bit as she said, "After my parents left for work I went out for a walk. They were gone and Colton was at daycare, so I went to get myself some coffee. One the way home… I ran into Caroline and some of her friends. I tried to walk away from them, but they kept following me and teasing me," Vanessa hunched over a bit, like she was trying to hide herself. "They… they said a lot of mean things… They made fun of my dad for being a nurse and not a 'real doctor' like Charlie's parents, they called my grandparents lazy burnouts, and… they made fun of me…"

Vanessa crossed her legs on the bed and hung her head. I narrowed my eyes. She was hiding something.

"What did they say about you?"

"It's… embarrassing-"

"Vanessa."

Wow, that's the first time I've ever said her full name. She turned to look up at me, surprised.

"I honestly can't see what they could dis on you for, angleface," I said without thinking. _Wow, did I just say that? Aw man, whatever! Not important!_

Vanessa shook her head. "Isn't it obvious?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on, Mikey! A super popular, super mean girl who's gorgeous and on the dance team; now look at me. You're gonna tell me you can't see what they make fun of me for?"

I gave her a scared look and slowly shook my head. She sighed, and looked as though she were about to cry again.

"C'mon, hon," she said quietly. "You must've noticed… how much smaller Nia and April are compared to me. How much slower I run than all you guys. How big and baggy all my clothes are."

I raised an eyebrow, completely confused. I mean, I was less confused than before, but still! What was she getting at? What does she mean Nia and April are smaller than her? What about her clothes? Curious, I glanced down at the rest of her, staring at her for a moment. Then, I realized…

"No…" I shook my head. "They didn't…"

She nodded. I gulped, feeling a little scared. How could any dude or gal be so low?

"Do they… say stuff like that to you a lot?"

Vanessa nodded. "Not so much the stuff about my family, they do that only sometimes to get me a little mad. The stuff about me though… that crap's an everyday deal."

Vanessa curled up a bit, and I noticed she pulled her night shirt down more, as though trying to make sure it was completely covering her stomach. I frowned. I honestly hadn't noticed it at all; I could just tell that she was funny, adorable and very pretty. I never really stopped to look at her figure.

"Well… they said a bunch of stuff, and started to leave. Usually I let them leave, but…" she grunted. "I was so mad, Mikey! I… I couldn't stop myself… And she was wearing those stupid, yellow mini shorts that she likes to flaunt everywhere."

"What did you do?" I asked, leaning in a bit.

Vanessa gulped. "I asked her if her ass ate breakfast that morning, 'cause it was eating her shorts up."

I blinked and stared at her. I had only ever heard Nia and Raph swear, and I had never heard Vanessa swear before. What she had said to the mean girl took a second to sink in. Then, before I knew it, I was laughing.

"Oh god!" I fell back onto the bed, laughing my lungs out. "That is awesome! Oh man, wait 'til I tell Raph! He'll give you a high-three for that one for sure!"

Vanessa laughed, smiling down at me.

"I know! Wicked funny, right? They didn't think so, though."

I caught my breath again and sat back up. "What happened next?"

"Obviously, they came back. Caroline started yelling and tried to hit me with her giant purse. I tried to avoid it, but she got me eventually. Her purse hit my head, and my head hit the wall, and the wall busted my lip. As soon as they saw me bleeding they screamed and ran off."

I nodded, but I was still a little confused about something.

"Um, do your parents know about all this? About them?"

Vanessa gulped. "They know that I get picked on a lot, but… I hate making them worry, and they don't know that the girls have been picking on the family, too."

"Do they know about this?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No... I told them I tripped running up the subway stairs," she sighed. "I just... can't stand seeing their faces when I tell them what they picked on me for. I hate myself enough for it as it is, I don't want them freaking out about it."

I didn't say anything, and neither did she. Heck man, I didn't know what to say. But, Vanessa looked so sad. I couldn't let that happen. So, I scooted closer to her, and slowly put my arms around her and gave her a hug. Now, I've given plenty of hugs- I'm a hugging champ, dude, just ask Nia- but this hug made my nerves shriek. Why was I so nervous? Then, Vanessa leaned into my chest and sighed lowly.

"You should tell them, you know."

"…You're probably right."

"'Course I am! Michelangelo is always right!"

Vanessa chuckled, and I smiled as I hugged her more. Man, I could get used to this.

"Hey… what's that in your belt?"

I opened my eyes and looked down. Vanessa was reaching for the other side of my belt, where a piece of folded up paper was sticking out.

"O-Oh!" I quickly released her and grabbed the paper. "It's, um… well…" I gulped, then shoved the paper into her hands. "H-happy birthday…"

Vanessa blinked at me, then stared down at the paper.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Um… remember when I came here a few nights ago? Well, I found one of the drawings you had been working on for the mosaic for Angus' sister. You threw it out but I, heh, liked it so I took it with me. I thought, uh, if I could help you pick what to make it would be a good… yah know, present, or whatever…"

Vanessa unfolded the paper and looked down. The ladybug, which had been plain looking before, was now much cuter, with a puffy smile, and large, round eyes with lashes. It was now laying on a large flower and was surrounded by grass.

"It wasn't really a lot," I muttered. "I just added a few things. I thought that if I did it would make a difference, but…"

"It's perfect…"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"I don't know why I didn't do this before; this is so much better! Why didn't I think of that?" she looked up, and was beaming at me. "Mikey, this is perfect for the baby's room, thank you!"

I stared at her with my jaw hanging open, and laughed a little. She liked it, she really liked it!

"Great!" I said. "Awesome!"

Vanessa smiled, then put the paper down beside her and leaned forward, pulling me in for a hug. I froze for a moment, and I could feel goosebumps erupt all over me. I grinned and hugged her back.

Suddenly, in the background, I heard the sound of a door creaking open. Then, a voice sounded from the living room.

"Vanessa, I'm home! Colton?"

Vanessa gasped as she pulled away. "My mom's home early!" she looked at me. "Mikey…!"

"No prob!"

I jumped over her and off the bed and leapt out onto the fire escape. I heard the doorknob of the bedroom door turn, and I leapt down, grabbing onto the ledge of the escape and hanging.

"Hi, sweetie."

"Hi, mom," said Vanessa. "What are you doing home so early?"

Trying to stay as quiet as I could, I tried moving around to find a way out without making a sound.

"Oh, Dawn was getting very sick so I let her go for the rest of the evening, and there wasn't anyone else to work the counter so I decided to close early. How's your mouth, honey?"

"Better."

"You should put a cotton ball and a band aid on it, honey, so it can heal quicker."

"Yes, ma'am."

I slowly shifted myself over closer towards the escape's ladder. If I can get to it quick, I won't get caught, and Sensei won't bust my shell over it.

"Vanessa, why's your window open?"

"O-oh, um… I was just letting some air in. It's a bit warm in here, you know?"

"Sweetie, it's 75 degrees in here. And it's the middle of July, it's warm outside."

I gulped and quickly started to move more. But, as I did, my hand slipped, my legs swung, and my foot hit the ladder. It wasn't loud enough to make everyone in the building look outside, but it was definitely loud enough to reach Vanessa's open window.

"Vanessa…" her mother's voice was almost a low whisper. "Did you have somebody over while I was gone?"

"Mom, I…"

"It's a boy, isn't it? That's why the window's open."

I froze, hanging off the fire escape. I heard footsteps from inside, and a second later I heard them step onto the fire escape. I glanced up, and could see the figure of a woman through the bars.

"Son, you can come out, it's okay."

I blinked. I thought she was going to mad, but she seemed pretty chill right now.

"M-mom," I glanced up, and could see Vanessa through the bars. "He… he might not come out…"

"Why not?"

"He's, um… he looks a bit different, and…"

I shifted around a bit, and the metal creaked. I froze. A second later, I looked up to see the woman kneeling above me.

"Is that you?" she asked.

There was no way out. Even if she could see completely what I looked like, she could still see me there.

"…Y-yes, ma'am," I stuttered.

I could see her bright blue eyes from here, and they didn't look angry.

"Why don't you come up here, hm? Let me get a look at you."

Is this for real? Was this really happening? I took a deep breath and swung around, grabbing onto the ladder. I paused before slowly climbing up and poking my head out. I could see Vanessa leaning halfway out of her window, Mittens standing on the window ledge, and a tall woman standing on the escape who could only be her mother. She was a very pretty woman, with long, dirty blonde hair and large, bright blue eyes. She was wearing a long, blue skirt and a white, flower pattern blouse that went down to her elbows. She was wearing a long seashell necklace and what looked like purple crystals hanging from her ears.

When she saw me she blinked several times, staring at me, her expression not changing. I glanced at Vanessa, who was looking at her mom nervously. The woman slowly walked over to me and kneeled down in front of me.

"What are you doing out here in the dark, hon?" she asked gently.

"Um…" I gulped. Her voice sounded like an angel. "H-Hiding…"

"Now, why on earth would you be hiding?"

"Uh…"

I looked back at Vanessa, who was staring at her mom in surprise. Then, her mom stood up, and was smiling at me.

"It's pretty warm tonight," she said. "Why don't you come in? I was going to make some punch."

She turned around and walk back in through the window. Vanessa and I stared at each other before I climbed up and walked back in.

Vanessa's mom was really surprising… and super cool! She brought me into her kitchen, gave me some of her fruit punch and was so nice to me! Vanessa was still a bit nervous about the whole thing, but I was chill as usual. Her mom was nice, super funny, and way chill! She didn't ask any questions about what I was and where I came from, she just… treated me like I was normal.

"Okay, okay, I got one," I gulped down my punch as I look at Vanessa's mom. "Why did the skeleton want a date? Because he was feeling _bonely_."

Vanessa snorted into her cup as her mom laughed.

"Oh, good one!" she said. "But, here's another one for you. What does a skeleton used to keep snow off his roof? _Shin-gles_."

I spat out some of my punch as me and she laughed, and Vanessa snorted.

"Mikey, you made a mess!" she laughed, shoving my arm.

"Oh, man. I'll clean it up."

"No, it's okay. I'll get a towel," said Vanessa.

She stood up and walked away to get a towel.

"So, tell me," the woman spoke up. "Why were you hiding from me?"

"Well," I fiddled with my cup. "I… guess 'cause I was afraid you'd freak out. You know, 'cause of how I look."

"Hmm… I suppose I could understand that," she said.

"Yeah," I said. "It's weird. Usually, I'm all for meeting new people, even if they might freak out. But… I guess I was just worried that…"

I stopped. I wasn't even completely sure what I was trying to say.

"Yes, hon?"

"I was worried," I said as I realized. "That… if you saw me and freaked out, that… I wouldn't be able to see Vanessa anymore," I hung my head. "I kinda screw up a lot, and people get mad at me for it. I guess I just… didn't wanna screw this up."

"Why do you mess up, Mikey?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just not good at paying attention. I get distracted easily, and I mess up because of it."

"Hm," she sat back. "Can't focus good, huh? Well, I guess I can relate. I, myself, can't see very well."

I looked up. "What?"

She grinned, then raised her finger to her right eye, and suddenly tapped it. It clinked.

"See this eye? Glass," she said. "I lost the real one when I was 5. I was on a hiking trip with my parents, and me and my siblings wondered off. We were playing around on the trail, but I tripped and fell down a hill. Landed on a stick, and it took my eye out. It was hard having to adjust to it- not being able to see as well, not being able to read like I used to, never being able to drive a car- but I always tried to never let it get me down too hard. It helped inspire me to do the best I can, even if I messed up sometimes. So, don't ever be too hard on yourself, okay hon?"

I gaped at her, staring from her glass eye to her smile. This woman was probably the coolest, sweetest adult I've ever known. Man, wait until the guys meet her!

"Yes, ma'am," I said, nodding.

"Please, honey, call me Rachel," she said. "Only my children call me ma'am, and even then it's only occasionally."

I nodded. At that moment, Vanessa walked back into the kitchen and over to the table, cleaning up the mess with a towel.

"Honey, what time is it?" asked Rachel.

"Almost 10."

I froze. 10?! Aw snap, I'm gonna be in so much trouble if I don't get home!

"Aw man, I gotta get home," I sat, standing up. "It was awesome seeing you, Rachel. You're super cool."

She chuckled. "Good to know, Mikey. And, you don't have to worry about me telling anyone about you or your brothers."

I grinned at her before following Vanessa back into her room, where her window remained opened.

"Well, that ended better than I thought it would," said Vanessa.

"Yeah," I said, shifting around a little.

There was an awkward silence, and we just sort of stood there, looking at each other.

"Well… see yah," I said, walking over and leaning one leg out of the window. "Text me and let me know who the part is."

"Mikey…"

I turned to face her, one leg hanging of the ledge. Vanessa slowly walked over to me; she was playing with a piece of curly hair, and her face was surprisingly red, making her look like a cute tomato. Then, she bent over, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me close. She closed her eyes as she… kissed my cheek.

I gasped as my whole body froze up. Holy heck, I've never felt like this before! What was happening? Vanessa leaned back, face still red, and smiled.

"Thanks Mikey, for everything."

I let out a small squeak, smiling at her. A second later I felt myself lean back and fall out through the window. I heard Vanessa gasp as I fell towards the ground. Instantly, I flipped myself up and landed perfectly on my feet. I felt a burst of happiness explode out of me as I yelled happily, not caring about who or what heard me.

"BOOYAKASHA!"


	3. Realization and Confusion

**Hey guys. It hasn't been that long since I last updated, and I feel pretty glad about that. I've gotten back into the swing of things, 'course college has just started, so I won't get ahead of myself. Well, enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Prologue: Part 3  
Realization and Confusion

(2 weeks after battle)

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

Kick. Smack. Dive. Before he could even blink, Mikey went down, landing flat on his shell. I ran forward and put my foot on his chest, keeping him down. His head fell back as his eyes spun around, his mouth hanging open.

"Yame!" Sensei called out. "Very good, Lavinia. Your speed has been increasing, keep it up. Michelangelo, you did very well, but you lost focus towards the end. You must work on that."

"Okay, Sensei…" Mikey grunted, sitting up and shuffling to sit next to the others, who were all kneeling in line.

"You have all been working well," Sensei told us seriously. "And I know that you are still celebrating after your outstanding victory against the Kraang, as you should. But, do not let your guard down too far. We still have a long journey ahead of us, full of trials from other foes."

"We know, Sensei," said Leo. "We know that Shredder and his goons are still out there, but you fought him greatly."

"You kicked his tail!" Raph said enthusiastically.

Sensei shook his head. "Do not dismiss the inevitable, my children. There is still more to come, and we must be prepared for it," he turned. "That is enough for today."

He continued forward until he went into his room, and slid the door shut. With that, the boys stood up and we all walked out of the dojo.

"Man, talk about buzzkill," said Mikey. "What a way to end training."

"He has a point Mikey," said Leo. "The Kraang may be gone, but Shredder is still out there, and he'll be coming for us as soon as he can."

"Yeah, but not anytime soon," said Raph. "Even if Sensei didn't win, he still knocked the hell out of him."

"Shredder's not exactly the type of person to lay off, though," I said. "We should still be careful."

Raph still didn't look convinced, but nodded. With that, everyone disbanded towards their desired destinations. Donnie went into his lab, Leo went into his room(probably to meditate some more), and Raph and Mikey went into the pit as Mikey grabbed both controllers.

"Raph, wanna play Mario Kart?"

"Again?"

"Please?"

"No way, man. I'm not dealing with your cheating shell again."

"You should probably listen to him, dude," I said, coming over to sit on the couch. "Last time you guys played Mario Kart, Raph got so mad he nearly threw you across the lair."

Raph folded his arms as he flopped onto the beanbag chair. "And I had to do extra training 'cause of it," he grumbled.

"You wanna play then, Nia?" Mikey asked hopefully. "I don't wanna play alone."

"Sure, why not?"

I sat down next to Mikey as he handed me the controller. We played for a good half hour, and it was fun enough. Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention to the playing the game- which I always loved playing with Mikey. I was too focused on what was going on while we were playing. Raph was still sitting in the beanbag, watching us play. At least, I thought he was watching us. But, I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I wasn't looking at him, but I could feel him looking at me, and it gave me goosebumps.

"You're falling behind, Peach!" Mikey jeered, as his little green Yoshi passed up my Peach.

"Not for long," I assured him, trying to focus more on the game.

"You guys are weird," said Raph, and to my surprise he got up and landed next to me. "It's just a game."

"Not now, Raph!" Mikey said harshly, looking determined.

I saw Raph roll his eyes as he leaned forward a little bit. I gulped. He was a lot closer than before. _What does that matter?_ I asked myself. My head was telling me to get a grip, but the hairs on the back of my neck were telling me that I was nervous as all hell.

The next thing I knew, Mikey was standing up and cheering loudly, waving his controller in the air.

"Aw yeah, Mikey for the win!"

I blinked, and saw that Mikey's character had indeed won.

"Too bad, Nia," Raph nudged me. "Guess you just weren't focused enough."

"Uh… yeah," I gulped. "I'll get him next time."

I'll admit, I was relieved when Angus and Vanessa finally came over to hang out. Focusing on them helped calm my nerves, which were going crazy for some reason. Plus, it gave me an excuse to move a little further away from Raph. I don't know why, but being far away from him helped me feel like my normal self. I hated this, though. I loved sitting next to my favorite hothead, but right now he was making feel strange and I didn't need to be acting weird in front of everyone because of it.

"So, have your parents decided on a name yet?" asked Leo, who was sitting next to me.

Angus, who was sitting between Raph and Donnie, shrugged. "Dunno yet. They might've already, but they haven't said anything about it. I think they might be waiting 'til she's born to tell."

"What do you think it'll be?" I asked.

"Well," Angus folded his arms. "They had this list of names hanging on the fridge a little while ago, and there were a couple that I liked. Maybe Bethany or Loral… I dunno. They were all really pretty though."

"Hey guys."

I looked up. April, who had just been in a meditation lesson with Master Splinter, walked over and sat down next to me on my other side.

"Hey, April," I said. "How was the lesson?"

"Oh, it was okay," she said. "Splinter says I need to focus a little more on… well, focusing."

I chuckled.

"Don't worry, April. It isn't as simple as it may seem," said Leo. "Meditation takes deep concentration; it took us years to be able to have enough focus to complete it."

"However, some of us are still having difficulties," I said, leaning over to smirk at Raph, who straightened up to stare at me.

"Excuse me, but I'm not nearly as bad as Mikey," said Raph. Then looked past me, then frowned as he said loudly, "Yah know, Mikey's probably the suckiest out of all of us!"

I raised my eyebrow and looked around. Mikey wasn't even looking this way, and showed no sign that he had even heard what Raph had said. He was just sitting on the floor, his wide eyes almost glossy as he stared up at Vanessa, who sat on the couch in front of him. She had been talking to him enthusiastically about the mosaic she had made for Angus' baby sister.

"You should've seen the looks on their faces, they just loved it!" she said happily. "They took it and put it up in the nursery right away! Oh, you should've seen it, the room looks so cute! It's perfect for the baby."

"I bet your art made it look even cuter," Mikey said dreamily, smiling up at her.

Vanessa giggled. I rolled my eyes as I turned to look at Raph, who was staring at his younger brother with a look of disbelief.

"The shell…?"

"Hey, you guys," Vanessa piped up. "Since we're all just sitting around here, why not have some fun?"

"Well, we haven't really done much today," said Donnie. "And we don't have much going on at the moment… why not?"

"I could use some fun after that lesson," said April.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

Vanessa grinned. "Have you guys heard of Hide and Clap?"

Leo and I glanced at each other before he asked, "Is it like Hide and Seek?"

"Very similar," Vanessa walked forward. "One person is the Seeker and everyone else has to hide from them, same old same old. But… the Seeker is blindfolded. They have to wander around the area looking for everyone else!"

She was beaming, but the rest of us, apart from Angus, were all confused.

"How are we supposed to find anyone if we're blindfolded?" asked Raph.

"That's why it's called Hide and Go Clap!" said Vanessa. "Every now and then, the Seeker will shout out "First clap!" Then, the other players all clap. The Seeker has to use this in order to find them. But, they only get three chances to get the players to clap."

"So, it's like Hide and Seek… with Marco Polo?" I asked.

"Exactly!" Vanessa said brightly.

"It's actually really fun," said Angus. "And pretty hilarious."

"So, what do you say?"

"I'm in!" said Mikey happily, jumping to his feet. "It sounds awesome!"

"Heck yeah," I said, standing up. "This sounds really cool! C'mon, guys!"

The others all looked at each other, and, shrugging, they all stood up.

"Alright, let's play," said Leo.

* * *

Man, I wish I had heard of this game when I was little. The guys and I would've had so much fun doing it. I mean, we're still having a blast now, of course. I don't know why, but it was cool and really funny playing this rather than just plain old Hide and Seek. Watching somebody walk right past you, trying with all your heart not to laugh, it was pretty fun.

"You're turn, Leo," said April, taking the white piece of cloth off of her eyes. She had just caught Leo, who had been hiding behind the TV.

"Alright, alright," he said. He took his own mask and turned it around so that the eyeholes were on the back of his head. "Okay, I can't see anything."

"Okay… start counting!" said Angus.

"1… 2… 3…"

I instantly went towards the exit by the turnstiles while everyone else scattered. Raph seemed to just disappear from the pit, Donnie went to the kitchen, April to the lab, Vanessa was sitting on the tire swing, and Mikey was crouched by the beanbag in the pit.

"8… 9… 10."

I quickly snuck over the turnstile and sat down, perfectly hidden.

"Okay… First clap!"

I heard everyone clap, and once they had I did too. I peeked over and saw Leo start to head towards Mikey, but then he changed course and headed out of the pit. I snorted and leaned back, waiting to clap again.

"Hey."

I turned. Angus was standing next to the turnstile.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Help yourself."

He quickly walked over and sat down next to me by the next stile over. He pulled his knees in, drumming his fingers on his legs.

"How's things going on outside of home?" I whispered.

"Oh, great," he said. "I've been getting some real practice done lately, I think I might be able to get a job at the music store, and… I'm in a band."

I blinked. "What?"

"I'm in a band," he said. He turned to look at me, and he had his usual perfect, white smile on, except it was much bigger. "I have been for about a few weeks now. Only Vanessa knows."

I gasped before quickly covering my mouth. "Oh my god, Angus that's amaz-"

"Second clap!" Leo called in the distance.

Angus and I clapped, and so did the others. I peeked out to make sure Leo wasn't coming our way before continuing.

"When did this happen? How?"

"A few weeks ago," he said. "This guy, Martin, he's one of my best friends. We had the same music class. Him, his cousin Joseph, and their friend Ace have been trying to get a band together. They pretty much do, and since I play really good guitar and can sing good, Martin recommended me for their band. None of them play guitar, so obviously I was a shoe in."

"Angus, that's great!" I said in an excited hushed voice. "Does anyone else know?"

"My parents," said Angus. "Obviously. We're waiting until there's an opportunity for us to play somewhere before exposing ourselves."

"What's the band's name, anyway?"

"We're, ah… still working on that one," Angus said sheepishly.

"Wow, that's incredible."

Angus smiled, but I could see that there was something else that was eating at him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He paused. "Well… see, the band has almost everything it needs. Ace is an awesome drummer, Joseph is great on the keyboard, Martin plays bass and I can play an electric. Plus, Martin and I can sing pretty good."

"Seems good to me."

Angus shook his head. "Not quite… See, the band only had four members, and, uh… the others were really hoping for five. So, we've been looking for someone else to be our main singer."

I raised my eyebrow. "And…?"

"Oh hell, ain't it obvious?" Angus said. "I'm talking about… you, Nia."

I stared at him. "What-"

"Third clap!" Leo shouted.

Angus' raised his hands to clap, but I reached forward and stopped him.

"Do you mean it?" I asked. "You… you and your friends want me in your band?"

Angus nodded. "Yeah. I told the guys that I knew somebody who was an awesome singer, and they said yes. Obviously, they wanna meet you first, and hear how good you can sing before making it official."

I gulped. "A-are you sure? I mean… I've never sung in front of anybody like that before. Hell, I get nervous just playing with you at the park."

"Trust me, you're the best for this," Angus said encouragingly. "I know you are."

"Well… what about the others?" I asked. "They don't even know me. Besides, they're all guys, right? Don't they want an all guys band or something?"

"I asked them if they were okay with a girl being in the band," said Angus. "Martin said, "Dude, we don't care if she's a 6ft talking lizard. If she can sing, she's in"."

I blinked at him, my mouth hanging open. Then, I felt it split into a grin as my heart began to swell up.

"Oh Angus, I-"

"AH-HA!"

Suddenly, something lunged over the turnstile and collided with me, sending me and the figure tumbling over until we almost fell off the ledge and into the train tracks. I landed on my back and looked up, and saw that it was Leo. He was sitting on top of me, a smile on his face.

"Got you!" he hollered. "You guys didn't clap the third time."

"Yes we did!" I retorted.

"No, we didn't," said Angus.

I turned my head to glare at him and he shrugged.

"Well, we didn't."

"So, you cheated!" Leo said accusingly.

"We did not!" I said, trying to shove him off. "Now, get off of me."

Leo laughed as he stood up. He offered his hand, and I took it as he helped me to my feet.

"Well, looks like I'm Seeker now," I said. "You guys go hide."

They both nodded and went to go hide with the others. I turned around and turned my mask so that I was completely blind. I stuffed my hands into my pockets as I began counting. I could hear the other's footsteps as they left to go hide. I sounded like Angus went somewhere near the dojo, and Leo might have gone by the bedrooms.

"... 9... 10! Here I come!" I slowly turned around. "First clap!"

I heard claps from all over the place. The closest one, however, seemed to be coming from the kitchen. Walking carefully with my arms held out, I slowly walked towards the path that I knew lead to the kitchen. My hands touched the curtains and I pulled them back. I walked around, reaching my hands out, hoping to touch someone. My hip suddenly hit the corner of the table and I gasped, wincing in pain as I grasped it.

"Damn it…"

I sighed, and decided that there was nobody in the kitchen. I walked out into the living room.

"Second clap!"

Again, a lot of claps echoed throughout the lair. I realized the closest one now was somewhere down the hall where the bedrooms were. I shuffled across the room until I reached the hall. I started to walk down, waving my arms slightly. Then, from my left, I heard a slight creek. I stopped. Somebody must have just stepped out of one of the bedrooms. I turned in the direction, and I could swear I could feel somebody standing there.

"Third clap."

I heard several claps come from out of the hallway. There was a pause. Then, someone clapped right in front of me.

I instantly leaped forward and grabbed them. We fell forward and there was a small bang as they hit something and we kept rolling. We must have hit the door and were rolling in the bedroom. We stopped rolling when I felt myself hit the wall and we fell into a mess.

"Jesus, Nia!"

 _Raph._

"Oh, sorry dude," I said, laughing. "But, c'mon, you're room? Really?"

"I didn't think you'd come back here!"

"I heard you clap!"

"Whatever!"

I reached forward and playfully shoved what felt like his chest. He grumbled and swatted my hand away. I did it again, and this time he grabbed my wrist and held it out to keep me from shoving him.

"Okay, now you're just being a sour puss," I said irritably.

Raph didn't respond. I could sense him sitting still in front of me, and I could feel his eyes on me.

"Raph?"

I reached my other hand up to turn my mask around so that I could see, but I felt Raph grab my wrist and he slowly lowered it. I felt my chest tighten as I tried to say something, but nothing would come out. I didn't know what to say anyway. I heard him shift around, and I thought I could feel him sitting a little closer towards me, still holding my wrists. His grip wasn't tight in the slightest, but knew I couldn't slip out even if I tried. My face suddenly felt very warm, and I began to worry if I was sweating a little bit. Wait, why was I suddenly worried about sweat on my face? Since when do I care?

"Guys?" Mikey called out from the hallway. "You cool? Did you break something?"

Raph released my hands and slowly moved away. I quickly reached up and turned my mask around in time to see him leaning his head out the door.

"We're all good. She caught me, so I'm it. You better go hide before I find you and smack you."

Mikey let out a squeak, and I heard him run off. Raph leaned back into the room and looked down at me.

"That goes for you, too," he said. "'Cause trust me, I won't go easy on you."

I wasn't paying much attention to him, even as he turned his mask around and walked out of the room. I was too focused on the fact that my hands felt surprisingly cold without him holding them.

* * *

 **Donnie's P.O.V.**

"There there, Timothy," I soothed, shaking the food container above him. "Don't want you going hungry."

The food flakes floated down, and Timothy's mouth appendage floated up and caught them. I smiled at him as I set the food down and continued to clean off my work desk. I brushed off some dust and picked up a few papers, and I glanced down at the Kraang communication device. It's been weeks since I had that talk with Nia, and I've kept my promise to not stress over it. Of course, I still check it during the day, but I don't hover over it at night like did when we first stopped the invasion.

I walked around my desk and put the papers into a drawer just as the lab doors opened. I looked up and saw Nia standing there.

"Hey," I said. "What're you doing up? Everyone else has gone off to bed."

Nia didn't answer, but she just stood there looking at me. Then, she puffed out her chest and marched over to me.

"Donnie, I need your help with something," she said in a determined voice.

"Okay," I said, raising my eyebrow at her. "With what?"

"Let's just call it an experiment."

She walked around me and stopped at the other end of my desk. She turned and leapt up, sitting on the surface. I glanced at her curiously as I walked over to stand in front of her.

"Okay… what do you need?"

She bit her lip, then she held her hands out. "Hold my hands."

I blinked. "Hold your-?"

"I need to see something," she cut me off. "Please."

I frowned at her. "Alright…"

I reached up and gently grasped her hands. She held mine back a little tightly. For someone who trains every day without gloves or anything, she has surprisingly soft hands. Strong, but soft.

She stared down at our hands, as though expecting something to happen. But, nothing did. I just stood there, holding her hands.

"Is there something you're waiting for?" I asked.

Nia groaned, and her hands slipped out of mine.

"Unbelievable," she grumbled, but loud enough for me to hear. "Anyone else can hold my hands and I'm fine. But when he does it, oh no, my nerves have a freaking break down."

She walked a few feet away and she folded her arms, looking pretty upset. I looked at her as I walked forward.

"Nia, who are you talking about?" I asked.

Nia looked at me for a second, then her anger was replaced with a look of embarrassment, and she turned away.

"You'll laugh at me."

I frowned at her for a second, and then I realized…

"Nia, if this is what I think it is, then I swear to Darwin I will never, ever laugh at you."

Nia turned back towards me, still looking embarrassed. I walked forward and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Come on… what is it?"

She sighed. "I… I think I…" she gulped, and I felt her shudder. "I think I…"

But she muttered the last bit so that I couldn't hear her.

"What?"

"I said, I think I like…"

Again, she muttered.

"I didn't catch that."

Her hands suddenly came up so that they were covering her face, except her mouth.

"I like Raph."

I leaned my head back a little to stare at her. She didn't move, still keeping her face covered.

"So… _like_ like, or…?"

My thoughts were confirmed as Nia let out a groan and reached up, pulling her hoodie down to cover her face. I gave her a sympathetic look as I grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face me.

"Nia, look at me."

She shook her head violently. I sighed, then reached up and gently grabbed her wrists, pulling them down. I grabbed her hoodie and slowly pulled it off of her head. Her pale face was bright red as she stared down at the floor.

"I'm being silly, right?" she said quietly.

"If that's the case, then you're not the only silly one here."

Nia blinked, then she looked up at me, her mouth hanging open.

"I- I forgot," she said shortly.

"It's okay," I said.

Nia sighed, folding her arms.

"You already knew, didn't you?" she asked. "That night we talked, you knew."

"I had my suspicions," I admitted. "Though, I wasn't completely sure. That's why I told you to let it settle in for a few days."

Nia turned and leaned against my desk, looking at the ground. I could tell something was eating at her.

"Donnie," she said. "How did you know that you actually liked April?"

I felt my whole body stiffen and my face start to feel much warmer than before.

"W-well," I stuttered. "I mean… y-you were there when we m-met her, so…"

"No," Nia shook her head. "You didn't know her, you only knew what she looked like. April's really pretty, Donnie, anyone would be attracted to her. But… how did you know you liked her?"

I suddenly knew what she meant. Now, generally speaking, a person's looks can first grab the attention of any available suiter. Then, that suiter tends to like them more as they began to know their crush. Nia's situation obviously wasn't about looks; she grew up with Raph like the rest of us. Whatever she was feeling, it was based solely on feelings and feelings alone.

"Well… I got to know her," I said, leaning on the desk next to her. "I realized what a cool, nice, and decent person she is. She's certainly smart and knows how to handle her own, which are both great characteristics. And… sometimes she really knows how to make me laugh. Whenever I see her, I just can't help but smile. She's like a breath of fresh air to me."

I suddenly realized I was rambling and cleared my throat. I glanced over at Nia, and saw her looking at me intently.

"That's my reason, at least," I said.

Nia looked away. "It's funny," she said. "I've known him my whole life, and I've never felt this way until now."

"Happens all the time," I said. "Something happened that just changed your perspective, I suppose," I looked at her curiously. "So… how does he make you feel now?"

She bit her lip. "…Kinda like before, only… a bit more intense, I suppose? Every time he sits near me I start getting a little nervous, and if he touches me I get even more nervous. And that stupid smirk of his… ha, I used to laugh at him about it, now every time I see it my face just starts blushing. But… even beyond that, he's still this awesome guy that I grew up with, someone that I trust completely. He still makes me laugh and he still makes me smile… and I'm still happy to be around him. It's just… I guess I'm happier to be around him than I was before."

I grinned at her. Yep, she had it bad alright. Just like I did. She let out a small chuckle, then turned to smile up at me.

"We're just a big, goofy mess, aren't we?"

I grinned, then put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.

"You have no idea."

She sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder.


	4. Scary Nerves

**Hey guys, I'm back. I've gotten the next part up. The Prologue is nearly done, and soon season 2 will be up and running. I've been busy lately, but I've been working on these whenever I can. I'm gonna try to work more on my 2 Dragon stories next before I write again for this one. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Prologue: Part 4  
Scary Nerves

(3 weeks after battle)

To say I was nervous was a bit of an understatement. I was really nervous, but I wasn't exactly freaking out either. I guess that was a good thing. It wouldn't do much good if I was flipping out. I needed to show that I could handle being put under pressure.

"We're almost there," said Angus.

A week earlier, Angus had told me that if I really wanted a spot in his band, I would have to show his friends what I had. Apparently his friend, Ace, his father owned the local cinema, and the group was able to use the place for themselves afterhours. They did all of that just so that they could see me. It made me even more nervous.

Angus had offered to take me in his truck that evening. The guys, April, and Vanessa all decided to wait back at the lair. I could still feel them patting me on the back and hearing them tell me good luck. I gripped my seatbelt and prayed that I didn't have to come home and tell them that I didn't make it.

"Here we are."

Angus parked the car and I took off my seatbelt. As he reached in the back to grab his guitar case, I looked up at the cinema. I've never actually been inside it before. I haven't really had a chance to go inside since first coming up to the surface. Angus locked his truck as we walked up to the large doors. He stepped forward and opened the door for me.

"Ladies first."

I rolled my eyes as I walked in. the place was huge, with rugged red carpet leading to multiple snack areas, a café bar, and a mini arcade area. That's when I noticed somebody in said arcade area, sitting by a station that looked like a racing game.

"One of your friends?" I asked, pointing to the guy.

"Oh yeah, that's Ace," said Angus. "C'mon, I'll introduce yah."

Angus and I walked together towards the arcade. The boy at the racing game leaned from side the side, spinning the fake tire all over the place. There was a loud bang, and it looked like the car on his screen exploded.

"Damn!" he yelled in a rough voice.

"Hey, Ace," Angus said.

"Oh, 'sup Angus?"

Ace stood up and turned to face us. A tall, black boy who appeared to be Agnus' age, Ace looked like a nice guy. He was dressed in black, cargo pants, and a loose, red tank top. As he waved at us, I saw that he had tattoo of what looked like a bird on his right forearm.

"Hey, man," Angus walked forward, raising his fist and bumping it with Ace.

"Yah late man, I was about to call you," Ace said; his voice was still rough, but somehow pleasant. He noticed me and asked, "Who's this?"

"Ace, this is Nia," Angus put an arm around my shoulder. "She's the girl I talk to y'all about last time."

"Oh, yeah," Ace smiled. "'Sup?"

"Hey," I said. "Nice to see you."

"Yeah, cool. Hey, the others are waiting in theater 3."

"Great, let's go," said Angus.

We all walked into theater 3, and the whole room was nearly dark except for a few lights. Down at the bottom of the seats, I could see two heads poking up. They were leaned towards each other, muttering lowly. Ace whistled loudly, and both boys turned. They both stood up and walked towards us as we walked down the stairs.

"Joseph," Ace said, pointing to the one on the right, "Martin," he added, pointing to the one on the left.

Martin and Joseph were cousins, so it was obvious that they might look similar, but it was still striking. Tall, muscular, and very pale, the both of them. Joseph had large, dark blue eyes, and dark brown hair that stuck up from underneath his maroon beanie. He wore brown skinny jeans with holes at the knees, and a black tank top with a yin and yang symbol on the front. He seemed to have what looked like a mandala tattoo on his right shoulder, and it looked like he had a tiny scorpion tattooed onto his left wrist. He had small, but noticeable gages in this ears, and one piercing on his left eyebrow.

Martin had small, forest green eyes and dark brown hair that fell in front of his eyes. He wore black, tight shorts, and a long-sleeved pink shirt. His ears were pierced as well, both of which had black stars in them, and he had a silver hoop in the center of his nose. He also had a tattoo on his left wrist; a vase pouring out water.

"Yo, they're here," Ace said, running down to stand beside the two boys.

"We can see that," Martin said in a husky voice that made me blink. "We were wondering when you were gonna show up."

"We got super bored," said Joseph, folding his arms. His voice was low and smoky, it made me shiver.

"Well, excuse me, but I had to pick a certain someone up," Angus put a hand on my back and pushed me forward towards his friends. "Guys, this is Nia."

I gulped, stuffing my hands into my hoodie pockets. Why was I suddenly so nervous? I was fine before.

"Um… hi," I said as confidently as I could.

"Oh, so it's you then?" Joseph grinned, taking a step closer towards me.

"I guess."

"Hm… You said that she was talented, Angus, but you failed to mention how cute she was."

Joseph gave me a smirk that made my ears feel warm. But I kept cool, and raised an eyebrow.

"You're certainly charming."

"Pay him no mind," said Martin. "Joseph flirts with literally everyone, you're not the first."

"Hey man, don't tell her that," Joseph said harshly.

Martin rolled his eyes and walked over to me. "Don't worry, we're not too concerned with your looks. We focus more on talent than anything."

"I'd like to think so," I told him.

"So, you guys got something to show us?"

Angus nodded.

"Okay, go on."

Martin, Joseph and Ace all went down to sit on the last row of theater seats. I suddenly felt extremely nervous again, and I suddenly grabbed Angus by the sleeve of his blue flannel. He turned to look at me, recognized the nervousness in my face, and quickly grabbed my hand.

"Relax, just breath," he said. "Listen, I know these guys. Even if they don't like what you got, they won't be jerks about it. Besides, they're gonna love yah."

I nodded. He smiled at me before turning and walking towards the front of the theater. I gulped and followed him over. I sat in one of the tall chairs as he got his red guitar out. He sat up on his chair as he took a moment to tune his instrument. I was glad of this. It gave me a minute breath, which felt very hard at the moment.

"Just relax," said Martin calmingly. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Have not worries," Joseph winked at me. "If you're as talented as you are pretty, you'll be great."

Ace leaned back in his chair and just said, "Surprise us."

I grinned at them. Though Ace seemed a man of few words, and Martin and Joseph seemed intimidating, they were all clearly genuine. Angus nudged me with his foot, and I looked at him and nodded. He began to play, and at the same time, I began to sing.

 _ **It started out as a feeling…  
Which then grew into a hope…  
Which then turned into a… quite thought…  
Which then turned into a quiet word…**_

I looked past the others as I took a deep breath. I felt awkward looking at them.

 _ **And then that word grew louder and louder…  
**_ ' _ **Til it was a battle cry…  
I'll come back… when you call me…  
No need to say goodbye…**_

It felt like they were all staring, but I ignored it and continued to sing.

 _ **Just because everything's changing…  
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before…  
All you can do is try to know who your friends are…  
As you head off to the war…**_

 _ **Pick a star on the dark horizon…  
And follow the light…  
You'll come back… when it's over…  
No need to say goodbye…**_

 _ **You'll come back… when it's over…  
No need to say goodbye…**_

As Angus played the instrumental break, I became conscious of the deep feeling inside my stomach. Even though I was still nervous, there was something invigorating about playing in front of other people- people that I didn't know personally. I wonder how it would feel to play in front of a full crowd?

 _ **Now we're back to the beginning…  
It's just the feeling and no one knows yet…  
But just because they can't feel it too…  
Doesn't mean that you have to forget…**_

 _ **Let your memories grow stronger and stronger…  
**_ ' _ **Til they're before your eyes…  
You'll come back… when they call you…  
No need to say goodbye…**_

 _ **You'll come back… when they call you…  
No need to say goodbye…**_

I inhaled deeply to catch my breath, and with all the courage I could muster, I looked down at the others. I wasn't sure what I would see, but I sure didn't expect to see them all staring wide-eyed with their jaws hanging open.

"Holy-" Joseph muttered, but Martin elbowed him in the side before he could finish that statement.

"Damn…" breathed Ace.

Martin sighed as he stood up, arms folded, and walked over to us. I bit my lip as I stared at him; his green eyes seemed darker up close. He looked at me for a second, then over at Angus.

"You told us she had talent, dude."

It felt as though a fist had tightened up in my stomach as I gripped my seat. But suddenly, Martin beamed over at me.

"But, you didn't tell us she had more talent than every girl in school combined."

My stomach untightened as I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. Angus laughed.

"I told y'all she was good."

"Good? Try pretty damn incredible!" Joseph leaped to his feet enthusiastically. "Beautiful and talented. God bless New York!"

I giggled. Ace stood up and walked over to stand with the other two.

"I think it's safe to say you made it," he said.

"Damn right, she did," said Martin.

I felt my face heat up as I smiled at them all. I could tell that they weren't just trying to be nice, and that they're comments were completely legit. That alone made me very happy.

"Now… all we gotta do is come up with a good name," said Joseph. "Which we're still having trouble with, aren't we?"

"We're working on it," Martin huffed.

"What have you come up with so far?" I asked.

"Well, we want something that depicts us as we are," Martin explained. "As cliché as it sounds, we want something that fits our personality- cool, chill friends who are opened with everybody and love music."

"Yeah yeah, what he said," Joseph said, slinging an arm over Martin's shoulder. "But, we also need something that fits with the kind of music we play. We have a bunch of covers and some originals in mind, so…"

"What kind of covers?"

"Any covers, really," said Ace. "We just add a bit of a different tune to it."

I bit my lip as I thought about it. It seemed to me that they were a kind of alternative music band, so that could be used. But, what else?

"Poly Elegance…" Joseph said as he stared off into space.

"We'll leave your relationship situation out of this, thanks," Martin said casually. "Though, I think I liked the Elegance part. So… maybe…"

"Inside Elegance…"

I realized too late that I had spoken out loud when I saw everyone else staring at me. I gulped.

"Sorry," I said shortly. "Just thinking out loud."

"No no," Martin said quickly. "I liked it. It's got a ring to it."

"Sounds cool," Joseph grinned. "I'm sure you've got a lot of cool things swimming around in that brain of yours."

Ace nodded. "Sounds nice."

"I think you're in," Angus whispered in my ear as the other three conversed over the name suggestion.

* * *

"Where have you been?"

It was a bit later than expected. Angus and I had been invited out to get smoothies with the others after my little audition. They had discussed my name for about the next hour before finally agreeing to it. To be honest, 'Inside Elegance' just kind of popped into my head, I hadn't exactly meant for it to be on purpose. But, now that I had actually thought over it, it sounded pretty catchy. No wonder the boys loved it.

We ended up getting back at the lair much later than planned. It was almost 8, and we had planned to get back at 7, at the latest. It wasn't that too big of a deal I suppose, but I still felt bad for arriving late. Plus, Vanessa and Mikey had gone through the trouble to plan a movie night for all of us. Kind of like a sleepover. Everyone was excited, especially since none of us had even seen the movie before. It was some kind of horror movie called 'Annabelle', and Vanessa assured us all that it was topnotch horror material. Everyone was already prepared by the time we got back. The guys were in nothing but their masks and elbow and knee pads, and April was dressed in her yellow long-sleeve shirt and white, flower-print pajama pants.

"Sorry, little brother," I said, walking over and giving Mikey a hug from behind. "We got held up. Got an offer for smoothies and couldn't refuse."

"Aw!" Mikey wined. "You went and got smoothies, and didn't get any for me?!"

Donnie, who was sitting next to Mikey, covered his mouth and shoved him aside.

"So, how'd the audition go?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, what happened?" asked April.

I felt my mouth curl into a wide grin before I could stop it.

"I made it."

"Wow!"

"Awesome!"

"Alright!" Raph cheered. "Way to go, Nia!"

I instantly felt my face blush. "Thanks."

There was a loud squeak as something collided with me and hugged me tightly from behind. I knew instantly it was Vanessa.

"Ooh, congrats, Nia!"

I laughed as I turned to look at her. She was wearing a snug, neon green shirt that was hanging over her right shoulder, and was so long it nearly covered her dark blue shorts. She was also carrying a huge tube of what was obviously popcorn.

"Y'all weren't gonna start without us, were yah?" Angus asked suspiciously.

"Ah… no, of course not," Vanessa glanced around, not looking at either of us.

"Ness was getting impatient," Mikey giggled.

Vanessa pouted her lips at him, annoyed. I laugh.

"Just give me a second to get my PJ's," I told her.

She nodded. I turned and walked off to my room. I found my little white shorts, and dug around in my drawer until I found a light blue, spaghetti-strap tank top. Seemed good enough. I quickly changed before going back out to the lair, where everyone was in the pit.

Angus was already wearing sweatpants and a white tank top, so all he had to do was take off his flannel. He was sitting beside Leo, who was sitting in the beanbag chair. Donnie and April were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, and I couldn't help but smile. Mikey was laying on his own pillow in front of the TV while Vanessa worked on getting the movie started. It was obvious that they would be sitting next to each other. I was very surprised, however, when I saw Raph was sitting all by himself on the couch.

I felt my cheeks start to burn for a completely different reason than any other time today. I gulped, then strode forward toward the pit. I made my decision as I stepped down and sat next to Raph, sitting crisscross on the couch.

"Hey."

Raph whipped his head around to look at me. He seemed very surprised.

"Hey."

I quickly looked away when I felt that I couldn't look anymore. Luckily, Vanessa had finally gotten the movie started.

"Okay!" she scooted back and laid belly down onto her own pillow next to Mikey. "Prepare for scares!"

All in all, the movie was great, and it certainly had the scare factor down. There were a couple of times, even in the beginning, where some part made my heart stop. Nothing had made anybody scream yet though. I was always on the edge of my seat by the middle of it.

"Nia! Popcorn!" Mikey hissed.

I quickly took another piece before handing the bowl off to him. Curiously, I glanced over at Raph. He didn't look bored, but his arm hanging over the edge of the couch and his head laying in his hand would suggest that he wasn't exactly terrified yet. I looked back over at the TV to continue watching the movie.

"What do yah reckon? Think it's legit?"

I turned my head in surprise to stare at Raph, who was now looking at me. But, before I could answer, Mikey had snapped.

"Raph! No talking during the movie!"

Raph turned to glare daggers at the back of his brother's head. I grinned slightly at him.

"Well," I whispered, and he turned to stare at me. "I know that there actually is a doll called Annabelle that this movie is based off, though, nobody actually knows how it got possessed. Plus, just because a movie says it's based on real events, doesn't necessarily mean it is. I think it's possible, though."

Raph seemed to grin appreciatively for a moment, then he smirked as he whispered back.

"Tch. It's all a rouse, if you ask me."

"You don't believe in paranormal stuff?"

"Eh, I haven't seen it for myself, so I guess not."

I rolled my eyes.

"Nah, really. I mean, what's the point of getting scared of something that might not even be real?"

"What if it was real? What would you do?"

"I'd do the exact opposite of what these dumbasses are doing."

I quickly covered my mouth as I went into a fit of giggles.

"I mean it!" Raph continued in a hushed voice. "All these scary, paranormal movies are all the same. Stuff starts to move around, you hear voices, someone sees a demon in the mirror, but the poor sucker just stays! If I was them, I'd pack my stuff and leave the first time a door closed on me."

This time I can't help it, and I end up laughing out loud. Raph stares at me and starts laughing too.

"GUYS!" Mikey cried. "Movie. On. Shush!"

"Sorry, Mikey," I said as calmly as I could.

He made an 'I'm watching you' gesture to both of us before turning back towards the TV. Vanessa giggled and patted his head. I looked over at Raph, smirking as I whispered,

"So, you're saying you're not scared of this movie, Raph?"

"Nah. You?"

"What if I am?"

"Aww, need me to hold your hand?"

"Pfft! You wish!"

He and I grinned at each other for a moment before turning back towards the TV. For some reason, I felt my hand fall down and rest beside my leg. As I watched the movie, I glanced over at Raph. He still had his head resting in his hand, and his other laying in his lap. He seemed to be purposely looking away from me, but I ignored it and looked back at the TV. A moment later I felt something nudge my fingers. I noticed it, but didn't say anything. Then, to my surprise, I felt something warm cover up my hand. I didn't need to look to know what it was, but I glanced down anyway. Was I surprised? Yes. Did I mind? Well…

Though I was sure he was looking at me, I kept my eyes glued to the screen as I slowly and gently gripped Raph's hand back. I could almost see him smiling, and that alone calmed my nerves a bit.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Mikey said enthusiastically as he whipped around to look at all of us, and mine and Raph's hands instantly retracted back to our laps.

"I know!" said Vanessa. "I've seen it five times, and it still gives me the shivers!"

"Nice pick, Vanessa," said April. "It made me jump so many times."

"Are you all having fun?"

I turned to see that Master Splinter had come out of the dojo and was standing behind us.

"Everything's fine, Sensei," said Leo.

Sensei nodded. "Yes. But, it is started to get late. You should all start sleeping very soon. Good night, children."

"Goodnight, Sensei," the boys, April and I all said, while Vanessa and Angus said "Goodnight." Splinter nodded and tuned, walking towards the dojo.

"Welp, if we're gonna be sleeping, we're gonna need some blankets," Vanessa stood up and stepped out of the pit. "And some pillows, too. I'll go get them."

"I'll come with you!" Mikey said, jumping up and joining Vanessa.

"I'll take care of this mess," Leo picked up the empty popcorn bowls and walked out towards the kitchen.

"I gotta call my mom," said Angus. "Wanna make sure she knows I'm okay."

He stepped out and went out towards the hallways. At that moment there was a loud beeping sound, and April took out her T-Phone.

"Aw man, my phone's almost dead," she whined. "And I left my charger back home."

"I've got plenty of spare chargers in the lab if you need one," Donnie said quickly.

April beamed. "Yes, thank you!"

They both stood up and walked off into Donnie's lab. It wasn't until the lab doors closed that I realized that Raph and I were the only ones left in the pit. A wave of sudden awareness came over me. I wondered if he felt it too. I cleared by throat before turning to face him.

"There were a lot of jump scares in there, Raph," I said slyly. "Sure it didn't scare you? I could've sworn I saw you flinch a few times."

Raph scoffed. "The only thing that's flinching here are your eyes, 'cause I didn't get scared."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," he turned to face me. "And look who's talking. You jumped at least 4 times."

"At least I'm tough enough to admit it."

"Heh, whatever."

I grinned at him and he grinned back. As we continued to look at each other I became conscious of how close we were actually sitting next to each other. I felt myself start to blush as I glanced down, still grinning. A second later, I felt his hand on my cheek, slowly pulling my face up. My grin started to fade as I stared up at him, my heart pounding against my chest. He looked more calm than usual, yet still frustrated. He seemed to be debating what to do next, and was having trouble deciding.

I gulped and opened my mouth to ask him if he was alright, but before I could say anything Raph leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I felt myself stiffen, not in discomfort, but in surprise. A kiss on my forehead felt so much more tender than a kiss on the cheek. He leaned back, and stared down at me, his neon green eyes pouring into mine.

There was a creaking sound, and I glanced over to see the lab doors starting to open back up. Raph grinned at me before pulling his hand away and turning forward. I resisted the sudden urge to grab his hand and pull it back, and I curled up in my spot on the couch.

The rest of the evening went by without any other instances, and while the others slept peacefully in the pit, I remained awake well into the night, thinking of all that had happened.


	5. New Beginnings

Prologue: Part 5  
New Beginnings

(1 month after battle)

"What does he need us there for anyway?"

" _No idea. He just says that we need to meet up now. Not even Martin knows."_

"This better be good, I almost had to skip my afternoon training for this."

" _Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine. See yah there."_

"Bye."

I sighed as I hung up the phone. Joseph had spontaneously just sent a group text to me, Angus, Ace and Martin telling us to meet him at the Java Café, and that he would explain when we got there. Seriously, he's lucky I just got done with training before he texted me.

I rolled down the sidewalk on my skateboard, the breeze blowing by me. It was reaching towards October, and the weather was getting colder. I was going to need my other jacket soon. I soon reached the café, and saw that it was only mildly busy. I walked inside and saw it was only half full, filled mostly with adults and performers. There was a boy on stage who was reading what sounded like poetry from a thick, black notebook.

I looked around and saw the others all sitting at a booth in the far corner. I quickly maneuvered around the other tables as I walked over to them. Ace saw me first and waved me over, and I ran towards them quickly.

"Hey, you guys."

"Sup, gorgeous," said Joseph, sliding over in his seat. "C'mon, sit down. We ordered you some hot chocolate."

There was indeed a cup of steaming cocoa sitting there waiting for me. I sat down next to Joseph before grabbing the cup and taking a big gulp. It tasted amazing.

"Thanks."

"Alright, you," Martin gave Joseph a stern look. "This better be good. Why are we here?"

"Yeah, you're lucky I wasn't busy," said Angus.

"Guys, guys, calm down," Joseph said, still grinning. "All will be explained…"

He picked up his own cup of hot chocolate and started to sip it. We all waited for a few moments as he sat there, slowly drinking from his cup. He raised his finger up, signaling us to wait another moment. Ace grunted.

"C'mon already, man."

After a few more seconds, Joseph finally lowered his cup. He whipped his lips, and without losing his grin, spoke loudly and proudly.

"I've found us an opportunity."

We all stared at him, confused.

"What are you on about?" Martin asked.

"I mean what I said," Joseph leaned back in his seat. "I found us an opportunity to perform."

"Joseph, what-"

"I got us booked for a show right after the Halloween Parade."

There was a silence for a moment. We all stared at Joseph, who looked like a man who had not a care in the world.

"You did what?" Martin breathed.

"I said, I got us booked for-"

"I heard what you said!"

"When did you do this?" Angus asked.

"Just last night, in fact. I saw the flyer at the doughnut shop, so I figured-"

"You figured?" Martin said, now even more stern. "Joseph, why would you just go ahead and do that without talking to me- to us?"

"Because, I knew you would take too long," Joseph explained. "And there was only one spot left. Halloween is coming up soon, and I knew that by the time we all discussed it, it would already be taken away."

Martin pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

"Hey man, Joe's got a point," said Ace. "It probably would've been gone by the time we all agreed to it."

"I know that, I'm not stupid. But, he does this all the time."

"And yet, you still stick with me." Joseph smirked as he sipped more of his cocoa.

Martin glared at him slightly. "Touché," he sighed. "Alright, so we have a performance. Details?"

"Okay!" Joseph clapped his hands together. "So, there's a big after party happening at Central Park, right after the parade. There's supposed to be a pretty big crowd there, mostly teens and young adults, I think. Anyway, there's gonna be a huge stage with lights and everything. The only requirement is that all performers must be dressed up. Sounds pretty swell, if you ask me. Plus, if we dress up, we'll be able to actually walk in the parade."

Joseph continued to give everyone details on the big party, all of them listening intently. Meanwhile, I was simply sitting in my seat, staring blankly at my half-finished cocoa. This was it. It was really happening. Why did I suddenly feel so nervous? Could I actually do this? Part of me was bursting with excitement, while the other part- the part closest to my nervous heartbeat- began to question whether or not joining this group was a good idea.

"Nia, are you still with us?"

I looked up at Martin's voice, and saw everyone staring at me.

"Yeah," I said quickly. "I'm good."

I quickly grabbed my mug and started gulping down my cocoa, glancing away from them.

"How did you manage to even get us a spot?" asked Angus. "I mean, you'd think they'd have an audition for a show like this."

"They do," said Joseph. "They were actually holding auditions for the party performances, but since there was only one spot left and no one else to take it, they just let us have it."

"Well, aren't we lucky?" said Ace. "Now we won't know if people think we suck or not. We get to find out after we perform."

"With an attitude like that, we definitely will," Joseph said sternly, pointing a playful finger at Ace.

"Well, if we're doing this, we better come up with some songs to play," Martin picked up his mug. "And some costume ideas."

I bit my lip, trying to think of a costume idea, mostly because it would distract me from my nerves. The guys and I never celebrated Halloween much growing up, so I didn't really have experience with costumes.

"Something scary?"

"Something bloody!"

"Something crazy…"

At once, we all turned towards Angus, who hadn't said anything yet. He remained silent, twiddling his thumbs.

"Well… I had an idea," he said. "I was kinda think of dressing up as a Day of the Dead skeleton this year anyway, maybe we could do something like that?"

"That sounds cool!" I said enthusiastically. "We could look like sweet, fancy skeletons."

"Fancy…" Joseph muttered. "Hey… that's a good idea, too! We could all dress up in formal stuff. Like, black slacks, coats and ties-"

"Gloves?" Ace added.

"And gloves!" Joseph agreed. "You look at us, and we're all fancy and formal, and then… BAMB! Sexy skeleton!"

"Yeah… yeah, I like that," said Martin. "It sounds awesome; we should do that."

Angus looked up at me. "Vanessa is great at makeup. She could paint our faces."

"I'll ask her tonight!"

"Sweet!"

"See? You guys should have more faith in me." Joseph said, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. "I always know what I'm doing."

"Isn't that what you said last year when we tried to audition to perform at the Senior Prom?"

"Shut up."

I giggled. I was starting to like these guys more and more. At that moment, there was a loud ringing. Angus fidgeted with his flannel for a moment before taking out his phone.

"Sorry, give me a second," He muttered, answering his phone. "Hey, dad."

"Okay, we only have a month until Halloween," said Martin. "We need to try to practice as much as possible. I'm thinking at least 3 or 4 times a week, definitely on the weekends."

"What songs?"

"We'll figure that out next session, but I'm thinking-"

"WHAT?!"

We all jumped, Ace spilling some cocoa down his front. We all froze in our seats and turned to look at Angus. He had yelled so loud that even some other occupants around us had turned to stare at our table.

"Angus, what's wrong?" I asked.

Angus didn't answer. A look of shock was plastered on his face, a look that soon turned into horror. He gulped.

"Is she okay?"

"Dude, what's up?" asked Ace.

Again, Angus said nothing for a moment.

"Alright, I'll get there as soon as I can. Okay, bye!"

He hung up, and looked up at me.

"My mom just went into labor."

I gasped. "What?"

"Wait, what's wrong?" asked Martin.

"She's only eight months," said Angus. "And… the doctors are saying that… something might be wrong with the baby…"

I stared at Angus, horrified. He looked like he was going to cry.

"I need to leave," Angus said. "Damn it, my truck's at home!"

"I'll drive you," Martin said quickly. "I've got my car."

Instantly, Angus, Martin and I all got up and left Joseph and Ace, running through the café of confused customers.

* * *

Martin drove us to the hospital as fast as he legally could. He dropped us off and we both immediately ran through the front doors. It was a good thing the place wasn't too busy, because we probably would have run into people while running up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I'm lookin' for my mother," Angus spoke quickly to the nurse at the desk. "Kathrine Carnell? She's supposed to be havin' a baby right now."

"One moment, sir," the nurse looked on her computer for a moment. "Yes… Okay, she's in room 209C on the 3rd floor. If you get lost, just ask a nurse or someone, they'll be able to help you."

"Thank you."

Angus grabbed my wrist and pulled me quickly down the hall towards the elevators. He practically punched the up button several times, trying to get it to open.

"Angus, slow down a bit," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm sure your mom is fine."

"The doctors said something was wrong," he stammered, still hammering the button. "They wouldn't tell my dad that if there wasn't!"

The elevator binged, and the door opened. We both walked in and I pressed the button for Floor 3. The doors closed, and the elevator started to rise. I glanced over at Angus, and saw that he had a firm, but worried expression on his face.

"Do you know what's wrong exactly?" I asked him.

He didn't answer for a moment, he just stared at the doors. He lowered his head.

"They think the baby is coming out feet first," he said. "And… that's not good. Her limbs are probably positioned bad, and she could have the umbilical corn wrapped around her neck. Plus… it's been barley eight months. What if she's too small? What if she's sick? What if-?"

I reached forward and pressed a large silver button and the elevator stopped moving, and the lights dimmed. Angus looked around, looking angry.

"Nia, what're you-?"

I stopped him as I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. He stood still, then hugged me back. A few seconds later, his grip on me tightened and he buried his head into my shoulder. I could feel his shoulders shaking slightly.

"Hey, it's okay," I said soothingly. "Alright? Look, I'm not sure how bad it is or what's gonna happen, but… no matter what happens, it'll be okay. You'll be okay, alright?"

"Uh huh…"

I patted his back as I stepped back, looking up at him. His eyes were gleaming, but he looked less worried than before. I walked forward and pressed the Floor 3 button again, and we continued moving.

It took us some time to find the room Angus' mom was in. We had to ask a doctor to tell us where her room was.

"Ah, Mrs. Carnell. Yes, I'm supposed to be heading over there to give her some morphine. You can follow me."

We followed closely behind the doctor as he lead us down the bright, light hallway.

"Do you know if she's okay?" asked Angus. "Like, is she doin' alright?"

"Well, she is a month early, but that's normal," said the doctor. "But, it seems the infant is coming out feet first. Now, while that does happen, it could cause some complications, and Ms. Carnell may need to have a C-section. Hopefully, there won't be many problems beyond that."

Angus still looked as worried as before, but he nodded in understanding. We soon reached room 209C, the doctor opening the door and walking in. I caught a glimpse of the inside of the room. Ms. Kathrine was sitting up in her bed in a nightgown, her husband sitting beside her, holding her hand.

"Mama!" Angus ran past the doctor, skidding to a halt and hugging his mother gently.

"Hey, honey," she said, patting his head. "Thank goodness yah came."

"We got here as soon as we could."

Ms. Kathrine looked past him and smiled at me. "So good to see you too, Nia."

"Hi, Ms. Kathrine. How're you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm feelin' fine, darlin'. Just tired."

"Alright, Mrs. Carnell," the doctor said loudly. "I'm here to give you your morphine now."

I felt that it would be best to leave Angus with his family, so I stepped back and took a seat in one of the chairs outside the room.

"Nia!"

I whipped my head around, and I saw Vanessa running down the hall towards me, her curly hair bouncing all over her face.

"Vanessa?"

"I got here as soon as I could!" she skidded to a halt in front of me, gasping for air. "I had to pull myself away from lunch with my folks. Angus texted me while you guys rode up here. Is everything okay? How's his mom?"

I nodded towards the room door. "She's in there; she seems fine."

"And the baby?"

I then quickly explained about the baby being feet first, and the complications that could follow.

"Oh gosh…" Vanessa sat down in a chair next to me. "Do you think they'll be alright?"

I shrugged. "Hopefully."

It was all I could say. I wasn't a doctor; I didn't know anything about babies or what to do or what all could happen in this situation. Vanessa nodded, putting a hand on my knee in comfort.

A few moments later, a few nurses started walking in our direction and headed into the room Ms. Kathrine was in. There was a mixture of voices for a second before Angus walked out, looking shaken.

"Hey."

"Nessy…"

Vanessa stood up and quickly embraces Angus, who didn't hesitate to hug her.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

Angus nodded. "I think so. Doctor says as long as they're carful and keep an eye on her and the baby, they should be fine when it's time to deliver. She's probably gonna have to have a C-section, but she'll be okay."

I nodded.

"Let's go to the waiting room," suggested Vanessa. "We're no good sitting out here, we'll only get in everyone else's way."

Angus and I agreed with her, and we started walking off towards the waiting room. At that moment I felt my T-phone start to ring. Curious, I took it out and saw it was Mikey. I suddenly realized that I had been gone from home for almost two hours, much longer than I was supposed to be. Woops…

"Hey dude, what's up?" I said brightly.

" _Yo, sis, where are you? You've been gone for hours!"_

"Ah… about that…"

" _Wait wait, let me guess! Um… you're being attacked by radioactive ketchup monsters!"_

I rolled my eyes. "No, I'm not under attack, I'm fine."

" _Then why aren't you home, dudette? I need somebody to play Space Adventures with me. I can't kill the aliens on my own!"_

I shook my head. Way to keep your priorities in check, Mikey.

"I'm at the hospital, Mikey."

" _Dude, what?! Are you okay?"_

"Yes, I'm fine! I'm here with Angus, we came to see his mom," I grinned. "Mikey, his mom is in labor right now."

There was a few seconds silence. For a moment, I thought maybe he hung up on me.

" _Nia?"_

"Yeah?"

" _What does 'labor' mean?"_

I snorted into a fit of laughter. "Mikey, it means her water broke."

" _And that means…?"_

"Oh geez… She's having the baby, Mikey!"

Mikey gasped before letting out one of the loudest squeals I've ever heard from him.

" _Oh my god, really?!"_

"Yeah, really."

" _DUDES!"_

I heard what sounded like loud, fast footsteps from the other line as Mikey started yelling at the top of his lungs that the baby was finally coming. I could almost hear the others voices on the other end, though I couldn't hear what they were saying. I couldn't help but laugh, making several nearby nurses look at me curiously.

"Mikey, calm down, don't freak out."

" _I can't help it!" he said excitedly. "It's awesome! They're having a little, tiny baby, dudette!"_

"I know, I know, but please, don't pass out or anything."

" _I won't!"_

I laughed. "Okay, look, I'm gonna stay here with Angus and Vanessa for as long as I can. Can you tell Sensei where I am? Tell him I'll try to be home by 6."

" _No problemo, sis."_

"Thanks. I'll see yah later."

" _Tell Ness I said 'hey'!"_

I smiled as I hung up.

"Nia, c'mon," said Vanessa. "We're gonna go get some coffee."

I nodded, running up to catch up to them.

* * *

 **Raph's P.O.V.**

Just a few hours ago, Mikey finally called Nia to find out where the heck she had run off to. She went to go to a band meeting with her new friends and never came back. Not long after, the doofus squealed like a little girl before running all over the entire lair, yelling about how Angus' mom was having the baby right now. Obviously, we were exciting and happy for him, but he could've been a little less crazy about it. He talked to her for a little bit before hanging up. He says that she was going to stay at the hospital with Vanessa and Angus until the baby arrived, or at least as long as she could. It's now 5pm. Nia's been gone since noon, and it's been oddly quiet without her. I mean, as quiet as it can be with Mikey still here. Okay, so… maybe not quiet, but different.

"I wonder what's going on at the hospital?" said Leo as he sat in the beanbag, watching Donnie and Mikey play Space Adventures. "I wonder if it's as crazy as people say it is."

"The birth of new life is a truly exciting time, my son," said Master Splinter, who was sitting on the couch next to me. "And, excitement can lead people to act very rashly. But, I'm sure all is well."

Mikey and Donnie appeared to not be listening that well. They were much to focused on their game. Donnie practically had steam shooting out of his ears and looked like he was on the verge of exploding, while Mikey was as cool as a cucumber, a confident smirk on his face. They were both pressing and smashing their controllers, until finally, the level finally ended with a loud "ding, ding ding!" The large bold words "YOU WIN!" came up on the screen, along with the scores. Mikey's character got the highest points by a long shot. Mikey laughed before turning and blowing a raspberry at Donnie, who was glaring slits at his little brother.

Though entertaining enough, I couldn't get my mind off of Nia. It wasn't in the way I was usually thinking about her, either. She had left just so suddenly after afternoon training today, with barely any warning or goodbye or anything. True, her bandmates had called an emergency meeting out of nowhere, but still. It was surprising just how much she was ready to just get up and leave like that, without any thought or hesitation. She had left the lair before to go visit Angus and Vanessa, but it had always taken her at least 10 minutes to do so, and she had always given us a real goodbye and a time when she would be back.

"What I don't get is how Nia could just run off like that," I said.

"Angus' mom went into labor, Raph," Donnie said matter-of-factly. "You can't exactly control-"

"Not that, idiot," I snapped. "This afternoon, after training. Her band buddies just call her up, say to drop everything and leave, and she just does it! No question!"

"Well, she is the newbie of the group," Leo pointed out. "She needs to make a good impression on the other members if she wants to stay in the band."

"And of course she would want to go with Angus to the hospital," said Donnie. "Any of us would, it's only natural."

"But, she didn't even call us."

"She was distracted, Raph. Who could blame her?"

I rolled my eyes as I folded my arms and glared away. I wasn't really mad at Nia, really I wasn't. But, the thought of how willing she was to just leave just stuck with me.

"It's not like we would've seen her sooner anyway," I grumbled under my breath. "She didn't exactly try her best to come back."

"What do you mean, Raphael?"

I turned my head to look up at Splinter. "Sensei, she's been doing this ever since she started hanging out with Vanessa and Angus, but it's gotten worse. She's almost never in the lair anymore, she's always looking for reasons to leave, and now that she's in this band it's gonna get even worse!"

There was silence. I looked around, and all of the others were giving me confused looks. The TV continued to play the winning screen music in the background. I turned to Splinter, and saw he had a rather serious expression on his face. He closed his eyes, and slowly stood up.

"My sons, Lavinia is and will always be a part of our family; she is one of us. But, we cannot deny the fact that she is still human. Because of that, she is able to do certain things that you cannot. She can go out in the day time, go into public, and covers with other humans without worry. Now she and Angus are in a band, and that means that she may be able to leave the lair far more than before. But, I must ask you to not become envious over it," he turned to look down at me. "Especially you, Raphael. It would truly break Lavinia's heart if she knew she was causing you such distress."

I glanced down at the floor. I knew he was right. Nia would never try to hurt us on purpose. If she thought that her leaving the lair so much was hurting any of us, she would probably stop in a heartbeat for us. I couldn't ask her to do that, no matter how much I hated the fact that she left the lair much more now. She was so happy; I couldn't forgive myself if I made her give it all up just because I miss her a bit. And you know what, that's a stupid thought in the first place. Missing her, tch! It's not like she's in another country, moron! Stupid…!

At that moment, all of our T-phone's suddenly ringed. I checked and saw we had all gotten a mass text.

"It's from Nia!" Mikey said excitedly.

I opened up my text and saw that she had sent me an image. I tapped the screen and the messaged loaded. A picture popped up on my screen. It was a picture of Angus sitting in a hospital chair. In his arms was a tiny, little baby, wrapped in a baby pink blanket. Angus was looking down at her, an adoring smile on his face, his eyes shining with tears.

"Oh, wow…" Donnie sighed.

Our phones all ringing again; Nia had sent another message.

 _ **Her name is Paige.**_

I sudden wave of stupidity washed over me as I gazed down at the picture of Angus and his new baby sister. How could I have said those things about Nia before? God, I'm a dumbass sometimes.

"Ooh, she's so cute!" Mikey squealed, leaping up and down. "Sensei, check it out!"

He ran up and shoved his phone into Splinter's face. Sensei gazed at the picture for a moment before a very warm expression appeared on his face.

"Ah, a very pretty name for a beautiful new girl," he said, his voice soft. "I am happy for all of them."

"We are too, Sensei," said Leo.

"Yeah," I agreed, smiling down at my phone.

 _Thanks, Nia._


	6. The Mutation Situation

Ch. 1  
The Mutation Situation

It's been two months since we defeated the Kraang, and boy have we been loving it. Things haven't been this peaceful and fun for us since before we first went up to the surface. Of course, a few crazy things have happened since. I joined Angus' band, his mom finally had her baby, and, most shockingly, Mikey might have, sort of… accidentally ran into Vanessa's mom. I can still remember the night he told us. It was around Vanessa's birthday, and he had come home, beaming with joy. When we had asked what happened though, he deflated like a balloon, and told us what happened. Man, did Sensei give him a talking to. But, seeing as how she accepted him without hesitation, and had agreed to keep their existence a secret, the talk was not as strict or as heated as it may have been. Mikey was let off with a warning to be careful, and that was the end of it.

So, other than a lot of relaxing, partying, and less training than before, that's about all that's happened. Nothing extraordinary at all happened beyond that. No way, José.

Well… maybe _something else_ happened.

Maybe I… kind of, sort of… ended up developing… some kind of crush for a certain extremely close guy friend of mine. But, it's not important, okay? Not at all!

After a few days of being cooped up in the lair, the guys and I decided to go out for a run. Not for training, not for patrol, just for some good, old fashioned fun. We had been running over the tops of buildings all over Manhattan, jumping, flipping, just having fun with it. Mikey was having even more fun as he was skating across the rooftops and grinding over the edges, laughing and hollering like the happy boy he was.

"Did you see the way I took down those Kraang droids that were about to blast me?" Mikey called out to us.

I grinned. The guys were reminiscing on our excellent victory against the Kraang once more. Well, no point in stopping them.

"Pfft, that was nothing!" said Raph, who had leaped down and was sitting on a large air conditioner. "I was surrounded by, like, 10 of them! I took them all down easily, but there was one sneaking up behind me. And then I took my sai, and shortened that Kraang droid's skull. So cool! HA!"

He emphasized his point by stabbing the conditioner with his sai. Somebody's going to be angry about that later. Mikey yelled happily as he swung around a street light and landed in the street. Donnie, who was sitting on the edge of a window next to Raph, smirked up at him.

"Sure, Raph. But, I used my uncanny scientific knowledge to bring down an _interdimensional portal_! Equally as awesome!"

"No kidding," I slid down to hang off of the same window as Donnie. "But, you gotta admit- and I don't mean to toot my own horn here- me distracting that giant Kraang thing so that you guys could get away was pretty wicked and heroic."

"The others weren't too bad either," said Raph. "Like, Angus was pretty badass for someone who's never fought aliens before. He knocked those freaks way out of the park."

"Actually, I asked him about that," I said. "Turns out, he knows how to box. He dabbled in it a bit right after he moved into the city."

"Vanessa was pretty impressive, too," Donnie added. "I mean, did you see the way she sliced at those Kraang aliens that were cornering her?"

Mikey rode past, and he suddenly had a powerful, dreamy look on his face. "Yeah," he sighed. "Wasn't she awesome?"

I giggled.

"And what about Master Splinter!" Leo's voice was full of wonder and excitement. "I wish I could've seen him take out the Shredder!"

"You and me both," I told him.

Mikey did a quick grind on a nearby bench before he swerved and stopped right in front of us.

"And, let's not forget Cottage Cheese Demon! If we didn't stuff him in that microwave, the earth would be drowned in living cheese!"

I rolled my eyes as I face palmed. Not this again.

"For the twenty-second time, Mikey," Raph said angrily. "There was no Cottage Cheese Demon, _ever_!"

Mikey folded his arms and stuck up his nose. "Did you see him?"

"No!"

"Then, how do you know?"

"What? I- tha- that doesn't even ma- ugh…" Raph looked like he was about to smack himself, but then he smiled faintly and said, "Sure man. Cheese Demon. Whatever you say."

"Well, cheese demon or not," I walked up and put my arm around Donnie's shoulders. "We really knew how to bring it to the table on those freaks."

"Yeah, we did!" Leo shouted. "We- are- awesome!"

"Yeah we are!"

"High-three!"

After laughing it off for a bit we quickly hopped onto the nearest building and continued on our run, like before. Until…

"Hey, are we gonna stop by April's?"

At once, we all skidded to a halt before we could jump to the next building. We all stopped and turned to look at Donnie.

"We are 1.3 blocks, and 6- no no, 7 meters away from her apartment."

"You calculated the distance?" I asked.

"Of course!"

Raph raised his eyes at him. "Yeah, that's not weird or anything, Donnie."

"Well, it has been a little while since we've seen her," said Leo. "Maybe we should to visit."

"Aw yeah, randevue at April's!" Mikey yelled happily.

And with that, we changed course and immediately started to head towards April's apartment. It didn't take long. Like Donnie said, we weren't that far away.

Within no time, we were all standing on the fire escape in front of her bedroom window. Donnie walked up to the window confidently, and knocked on the glass.

"Handsome-gram, for April O'Neil!" he said cheerfully.

I snickered. He was so adorable sometimes. Raph groaned as he slapped his own forhead.

"Ugh! Did you _really_ just say that?!"

Donnie rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored him. A second later April appeared and opened her window.

"Guys! Um… great to see you!"

The others and I walked forward, but April stopped us in our tracks. I raised an eyebrow. She seemed a bit off.

"Y-yeah, um… you mind staying on the fire escape?" she asked awkwardly.

"Oh, is someone else inside?" I asked.

"No, but… well…"

"Seems like you've been avoiding us lately, April," said Leo.

April sighed, leaning against the window pane. "It's not my fault," she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "Dad's alien abduction nightmares are getting worse. He's so freaked out he won't let me out at night."

I raised an eyebrow. "At all?"

"At all."

"But, he knows about your training, right?" I asked. "Doesn't he know you can defend yourself better now?"

"Yeah, but… he's still too scared."

"I'm sorry, April."

I flinched and looked up. Mr. O'Neil had suddenly walked out of the darkness. It seemed he was listening in on our conversation.

"It's just… what if the Kraang are still out there? Waiting… working… I'll do anything to protect you."

"Dad, I can take care of myself now," April told him. "And, I'll be with Nia and the guys! I couldn't be more safe."

Mr. O'Neil glanced up at us. He still seemed a bit unsure.

"Trust us, Mr. O'Neil. Shredder and those squishy brain freaks are long gone."

Kirby looked from us to April in silence. April looked up at him pleadingly. He sighed.

"Alright… just be careful."

April beamed. "Thanks, dad."

She kissed his cheek before stepping out into the night.

"I'll call Angus and Vanessa," I said, taking out my phone. "Tell them to meet us at the lair."

"Aw yeah, dudes!" Mikey said happily.

* * *

The lair got pretty crazy later that night. After Angus and Vanessa got there, the guys and I immediately started playing around, tearing the place up quite a bit. I knew I'd be irritated when I had to clean it up later, but I didn't really care at that moment. After playing some Super Smash Bros, Donnie decided that he had had enough madness for one night and barricaded himself in his lab with Timothy. Angus and April offered to go get us some pizza and left afterward. That just left the guys, Vanessa, and I in the living room. And how did we occupy ourselves? With some good, old-fashioned-

"Ninja dodgeball! Wooohooo!" Mikey cheered.

Yep, Ninja Dodgeball. One of the many 'ninja alternate' games that we often played in the lair or on the surface. Vanessa had brought her speakers, and the T-Pod was blasting my playlist of Fall Out Boy. The giant Kraang communication device, which the others had decided to use as the ball, came flying towards Mikey, but he leapt up and caught it without fail.

"Miss me again, Leo! Ha!"

He threw it forward, and it went straight towards Leo, who reared around and kicked away from him.

"Eat this!"

It went towards Raph, who caught it in front of him.

"Stick it in your shell!" he called out. "Think fast, Nia!"

I was ready before the ball even came my way. I did a huge backflip, and as I landed in a crouched position I extended my arms out, and the ball landed in them perfectly.

"Not fast enough, dude!" I laughed. "Check it!"

I turned and threw it at Vanessa. She squealed and fell clumsily backwards, inadvertently avoiding the ball, which landed beside her.

"Wow, you actually dodged it this time, Ness!" Mikey teased playfully.

"Damn!"

We all turned to see Angus and April standing by the turnstiles, each with a total of three pizza boxes in their hands.

"We leave for 5 seconds, and you guys go nuts," said April.

"It's dodgeball, what did you expect?" asked Raph.

"Angus, you should've seen it!" Mikey called out. "Vanessa got out on every round, and fell on her butt every single time!"

Angus snorted. Vanessa sprang to her feet, glaring.

"Oh, you little…!"

Vanessa smirked as she picked up the back, and with what was clearly all of her strength, threw it at Mikey. He ducked to avoid it, and it bounced off the pinball machine, off the wall, through the dojo and back, crashed through Donnie's lab for a few seconds (I heard him let out a surprised scream), and then came shooting out. It went past Leo, and I saw it just barley graze his knee before it continued on, still bouncing all over the room.

"Ha! You're out Leo!"

"It doesn't count on a bounce!"

"It touched you."

"It doesn't count, Ness."

"Leo-"

"Don't even, Nia!"

I couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Leo was getting. He looked so silly.

"What are you guys doing?!"

I turned to see Donnie standing outside of his lab. He was looking very annoyed.

"Playin' dodgeball, fool!" said Mikey.

A second later the ball bounced back, and this time he wasn't ready for it. It smacked him right in his gut, and he grunted before toppling to the ground.

"You're out!" Vanessa cried happily.

"You guys were playing dodgeball with the Kraang communication orb?!" Donnie yelled, taking the orb away from us. "This is a rare and fragile piece of alien tech, you guys can't just-!"

"Aw, don't get your shell undies in a tangle Donnie, the Kraang are toast," Raph said, waving him off.

"Yeah, lighten up, dude!" Mikey threw an arm around his shoulder. "This is a _party! Wow!_ "

"My children," we all turned to see Sensei walking towards us from the dojo. "I know you are still joyously reveling in the defeat of our enemies, but a great question remains."

"What if cupcakes could talk?" Mikey asked.

Splinter ignored him and continued, "Are our enemies truly defeated? The Shredder is a crafty and patient foe who bides his time."

"But, Sensei, you said Shredder lost whatever shred of honor he had left," said Leo. "We'd never see him again."

"Yeah, and if he shows up, we got it all taken care of," Raph said, swinging his sai's around skillfully.

With that, all of the boys walked past him, heading for the kitchen. Sensei glanced down at me, and I merely shrugged. They all had good points, but I was more with the boys on this one. Sensei glanced down, then suddenly snapped in Japanese. At once, the guys froze.

"You all have become lazy, over confident, you shun your training. This party ends. _Now!_ "

He slammed his staff onto the ground, and the boys stood at attention. I froze, standing in shock rather than in respect. Sensei noticed this, but merely walked past me. I kept my eyes on him until he was far away, and only then did I relax my shoulders.

"Wow…" said Vanessa. "That was… loud."

"You don't know the half of it," I said as I slowly shuffled towards the others.

"Dude, talk about harsh," Mikey said grumpily.

"Maybe Master Splinter's right," said Leo. "Maybe we are getting too cocky."

"Ha!" Raph laughed. "It's not cockiness when you've got the skills to kick massive-"

But he was cut off by a heavy beeping sound. It was coming from the Kraang devise. It was flashing pink and was making a lot of racket.

"That thing's working again?" said April.

Donnie frowned. "It's been quiet for over a month. It must've received an incoming signal, which can mean only one thing…"

"Cupcakes can talk!" Mikey said excitedly.

"The Kraang are back," Leo said firmly.

Mikey slumped down. "Guess the party really is over."

"It better not be," Angus huffed. "I spent like 30 bucks on these pizzas."

* * *

"The encryption's tough to crack, but it seems like the Kraang are transporting some kind of cargo." Donnie turned and started to type away on his computer. He gasped. "They're using the stealth ship!"

"We gotta find out what that cargo is," said Leo.

"So, how do we track a ship that's completely invisable?" asked Raph.

Mikey quickly whipped around. "We cover it in honey 'til it attracts bees, then… we follow the bees."

Raph facepalmed as the other stared at him.

"We would still have to find it in order to put honey on it, Mikey," I explained.

Mikey opened his mouth to respond, but then his face fell, and his sighed sadly. Vanessa grinned as she patted his head sweetly.

"We can track it with this," Donnie reached up and held up a device that kind of looked like an old-school Gameboy. "It's a inline with the radar dishes we placed throughout the city. It'll create a triangulating pulse-"

"English, Professor Braini-off," Raph cut him off.

Donnie glared. "I will detect the Kraang spaceship," he turned to April and placed the device in her hands. "April, can you stake out a rooftop and feed us the ships coordinates?"

"Me?! I-I don't know anything about radar!"

"What about your dad?" asked Leo.

"My dad…?" April glanced away. "He barely lets me out of the house anymore, he's never gonna go for this."

"Please, April! Your dad's a scientist, we really need his help!" Donnie begged.

April sighed. "I'll… I'll see what I can do."

She glanced at us before turning and walking away.

"We'll go with her," said Vanessa, grabbing Angus' arm and pulling him along. "We'll convince him were doing extra credit for a science class or something. We all have the same class, so it'll be more convincing if we're there."

"Good idea," said Leo. "Go, but be careful."

They both nodded and followed behind April. Vanessa was the last out, and as she glanced back she grinned at Mikey, winked, then left. I turned to see Mikey gazing after her, completely oblivious to everything else. Well… more so than usual.

"The bigger question is; how do we stop that ship?" asked Raph.

"Yeah," I said. "Last time we ran into one of those things, we needed a missile launcher. And, last I checked, we don't have one of those."

"We'll also need something fast to catch it," Raph added.

Donnie smirked. I had a bad feeling about that look of his.

* * *

"I call it… the T-Rocket!"

I was correct. We were all standing at the other end of the lair, dressed in our robotic wings and our helmets. On the tracks was what looked like a giant rocket with five seats inside. How Donnie finds the time to build this crap is still beyond me.

"You want us to fly in that?" asked Raph. "Where're we going? Jupiter?"

"Jupiter?! But, that place is infested with space yeast!" Mikey cried.

We stared at him.

"Time's up, team," said Leo. "Better move."

We all started to head to the rocket. Leo pulled out his phone.

"April, you guys in position?"

" _Um… roger, I think…"_ April whispered over the other line.

" _You guys might wanna hurry up though,"_ Vanessa said quickly. _"Mr. O'Neil is starting to get suspicious."_

"We're on it," Leo said before hanging up.

I quickly got into the seat between Raph and Mikey, strapping myself in with the buckles. I suddenly felt like my biker helmet wasn't good enough for this journey.

"Coordinates, locked! This is it!" Donnie said excitedly.

"If we explode, I swear, I'll slap the green off you," Raph threatened.

"Launch!" Leo yelled.

A split second later the rocket shot forward. We were going so fast my head was being force against the headrest. I could hardly hear the boys yelling over my own screams of surprise. We seemed to have been going for several minutes before we finally went through the surface. I could only imagine what was going through the bystanders minds at the sight of a giant rocket just appearing out of the ground.

We tilted up and started going up into the sky. At a certain point the rocket stopped, and we were all suddenly ejected from our seats. I yelled as I started to fall, but I quickly pulled the string on my flight suit and my wings flung out, catching me in the air. The others did too, and they quickly joined me in the air.

"Booyakasha-!"

Mikey's cry was cut off as he appeared to have suddenly slammed into midair. A few seconds later Donnie and Leo did the same as well. Unable to stop myself, I joined them as I smashed into the invisible object.

"Ugh… I'm gonna need pain killers after this…" I groaned.

"I think we found the ship…" mumbled Leo.

There was a loud grunt as Raph then slammed into the ship along with us. I turned to look up at him, and he had gone cross eyed.

"Couldn't think to stop when you saw us hit something, did you?" I said, smirking.

He shook his head and then glared at me before shoving me in the shoulder.

"Let's move," said Leo.

We all began climbing up the ship, though it was a bit difficult with it being invisible still. Once at the top we discarded our wings and searched for the hatch to get inside. I found it within seconds and immediately started to turn it open. Once it was, we all jumped up and went through the hole, landing on our feet. I got the feeling we looked pretty impressive at that point.

There were a total number of three kraang aliens in front of us. Nothing too troubling. They weren't even in their Kraang droid uniforms.

"It is the ones who call themselves 'the turtles and the girl,'," one alien said. "Kraang, we must alert Kraang."

Raph grinned. "Ha! Three little floatin' blobs of brains and that's it?"

"We can take these guys in our sleep," said Leo.

"We can take these guys in our sleep and with our eyes closed!" Mikey said, trying to sound impressive. "Woo!"

At that point there was a loud, deep sound, like an animal moaning. We all froze for a second before pulling out our weapons and turning around, landing in a stance. I gripped my tessen tightly, looking through the mist covered door. The mist suddenly disappeared, and there stood a giant… well, I assumed it was a robot, but it looked like a tall blue monkey, without a head.

"Aw, sewer apples," Mikey groaned.

"Uh, where's it head?" asked Raph.

Suddenly, the headless robot started stomping toward us quickly. As it ran past it knocked each of us off of our feet. I raised my arms to block, but it sent me flying into the other side of the room. I sat up and saw one of the floating aliens had floated up and connected itself to the top of the money robot, now acting as its head. It turned to face us, then it raised its arms and roared as what looked like blades attached to cords shot out from its chest.

"Okay," said Donnie. "Maybe we were a little cocky…"

The hands came down to smash us, and we jumped out of the way. The blades from its chest shot out towards Leo, and he blocked them with his katanas. But one of them wrapped around his outstretched arm and tossed him back. The blades turned on Raph, who held them back with his sais. Then Mikey jumped up and slammed his nunchucks on the robots' arms. Nothing happened. The kraang turned its head to glare at Mikey, who looked a little nervous now. The robot reared its giant fist back and punched Mikey, sending him flying into the wall.

The robot marched towards him, but I ran out and leapt up onto its back, wrapping the handle around the kraang's head to try to pry it off. It didn't work. The robot grabbed me and threw me away. I slammed against the wall, upside-down, and slid down onto my head.

"Ow…"

Suddenly, the wall I was leaning on seemed to slide open, and my feet fell down. I quickly sat up and looked into the new room that had appeared. The fog cleared, and in front of me were many, many glass canisters of glowing green ooze.

"The shipment! It's mutagen-!"

But Leo was cut off as he was punched by the robot. He landed onto the control panel, and suddenly the ship started going much faster. I slipped on my way to standing up, and suddenly, Donnie and Mikey were thrown back and landed beside me.

"Gah! This thing's too tough!"

"Well, I got this!"

Mikey ran forward, smirk on his face, and happily kicked one of the kraang aliens manning the control panel. It screeched as it bounced around the ship like a pinball before landing and slamming onto the panel. There was a buzzer, and then a hatch in the floor opened.

The giant robot, who had been spinning Leo and Raph around for the past five minutes, finally stopped and threw them off. They landed on either side of the mutagen storage, and as they did the walls shook, and suddenly the canisters started falling and rolling towards the open hatch.

"Guys!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and running forward.

It was too late. One by one, all of the canisters started rolling out of the hatch and falling down into the city below.

"NO!"

We all ran forward, kneeling down by the hatch. I watched as dozens of glowing cans, every last one of them, fell down to earth.

"No..." I breathed.

"All that mutagen…" Raph glared up at Donnie and. "You two are the biggest screw-ups ever!"

"Well, you could've grabbed one single canister!" Donnie snapped back.

I glared. "Will you guys stop yelling for five seconds!"

"Me! They're the ones who didn't even try-"

"Um, guys? You wanna focus?!" Leo yelled.

We all turned and saw that he was currently trying to hold back the robots' chest blades on his own. We all sprinted forward as the robot leaned back and roared. Donnie advanced first, withdrawing his Bo staff and managing to slip around the robot. Then he yelled as he swiftly slammed his staff against the robots' back. All that happened was that a hatch on the 'bots rear-end fell open to reveal two long gun barrels.

"Butt cannons…? It has _butt cannons_?!"

The only answer he received was the said butt cannons immediately firing at him, and the rest of us. I did a fast cartwheel to the left and immediately jumped off the wall to the opposite side to avoid all of the lasers. Raph ran forward in front of the robot and tried to attack it, but it dodged and kicked him, quickly pinning him down on his shell, now dangerously close to falling out of the still open floor hatch.

"Uh, little help?" he grunted.

Leo quickly ran forward and

"Any ideas, Donnie?" I asked.

Donnie didn't answer immediately as he looked around the whole ship. Then his eyes landed on the two little Kraang aliens that were currently trying to fix the now broken control panel.

"I do now," Donnie whipped around. "Mikey, drop those Kraang!"

"Done and done!" Mikey cracked his knuckles before reaching behind him. "Throwing star time! _Whaa-hooo_!"

He flung the stars at the aliens' hover pads, causing them to spark and suddenly fly out of control. Donnie whacked them out of the way with his Bo staff before jumping up onto the control panel. He pressed the blade out of the staff and jabbed it into the panel, giving it a hard pull as the ship suddenly made a sharp right. I slipped and slid out to one side of the ship until I hit the wall, pretty soon the others and the monkey robot did too.

We continued to go back and forth across the ship floor, hitting the walls as Donnie continuously turned this way and that to avoid the buildings outside.

"How about we set a new course, like the moon!" he yelled.

He then yanked his staff all the way back, and suddenly we were going completely vertically upward, spinning in the process. As we landed on the bottom of the ship, the robot got back up and immediately started swinging at Mikey, who jumped back to avoid the blow. Raph jumped up onto his shoulders, embedding his sais into the robots' back. The robot tried to throw him off but failed. Mikey and I took this opportunity to run forward, drawing our blades out. I reached up and started slicing at the robot, putting a few good gashes into the metal. I knocked his arms out of the way and stabbed them, sparks flying out of the fur. I kept the blades in the arms as I held them down out of the way, and Mikey quickly reached up and grabbed the Kraang alien, yanking him out. The alien screeched as Leo suddenly started running forward, katana blade held out in front of him. The blade went straight through, and the robot exploded.

"We gotta go!" Leo yelled.

At once, we all ran towards the open hatch. I reached behind me and grabbed my grappling hook as I jumped out, spinning it over my head. I threw it forward and it caught onto the ledge of a roof. I swung down and up, the boys following my lead. I let go of the rope and landed on the building in front of me, the others landing around me. As I looked forward I saw the building were Vanessa, Angus, April and Mr. O'Neil had been. Except, Mr. O'Neil wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was a giant, disgusting-looking mutant with a growth-like head, stubby arms, and huge purple bat wings with hands on the end.

"Let's move!" Raph yelled.

We all leapt forward and landed in protective stances in front of the other three, drawing out our weapons before running forward. The bat screeched as it flew forward at us, but we were ready.

"Wait!"

"Y'all, stop!"

"Don't hurt him!"

At once we all froze, turning our heads to stare at them. _What did they just say?_ But before we could ask, the mutant bat shot forward, knocking us all over. There was a loud 'whooshing' sound, a scream, and I heard Donnie cry out, "April!" I looked up from the ground. The mutant had grabbed April and was now flying off with her.

"Ugh! Can this night get any worse?" Raph grumbled as he stood up.

"Guys, what happened?" I asked Vanessa and Angus as they got up to their feet.

"We were just sitting here tryin' to check for the ship, then it just appeared out of nowhere," Angus explained, gesturing to the sky. "Just like that! Mr. O'Neil started freaking out."

"It just kept flying around us, and then these green tubes started falling out," added Vanessa. "One of them even flew straight at us!"

"Wait, one fell down here?" Donnie asked. "Did anyone get hit?"

"Uh, guys…"

We all turned. Leo had his head down, and we all saw he was looking at what was unmistakably a broken glass canister, surrounded by a small puddle of mutagen.

"I think that mutant was Mr. O'Neil," said Leo.

"How could you tell?" Mikey asked.

"You see many giant, red bearded, middle-aged bats lately?"

I looked at Raph. "I think it just got worse."

"We gotta go after her!" Donnie said hurriedly.

"But, what about all that mutagen?" Raph asked. "We got canisters spread out all over the city!"

"The canisters aren't going anywhere, Raph," I told him. "But Mr. O'Neil basically kidnapped April, and who knows what'll happen? We gotta help them now."

"She's right," said Leo. "The mutagen is gonna have to wait. April's dad comes first."

We all nodded. With that, we turned and started to run off the roof to the next one, Vanessa and Angus running both running to keep up.

* * *

"I can't think, I can't think! I'm seriously stressing here!" Donnie panicked as he paced around the room. "What if he hurts her? What if he drops her? What if?!"

"Whoa, easy there, boy," Angus said, grabbing Donnie's shoulders to keep him still. "You ain't doin' yourself any favors by freaking out. Try takin' some deep breaths, calm down…"

Donnie gulped, and nodded. "Y-yeah, you're right," he breathed heavily. "Okay… think calm thoughts…"

"You think he's a vampire!" Mikey piped up. "You think he'll drink her blood and turn her into the undead?"

Angus face palmed as Donnie stomped over to Mikey, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Are you _TRYING_ TO FREAK ME OUT?!"

"Okay, knock it off you two," I said, walking in-between them. "Mikey, now's not the time to joke like that, okay?"

Mikey raised his hands in surrender as he walked over to sit in the beanbag chair. At that moment, I saw Sensei started to walk our way. Immediately, I sat down on the couch, trying to look like everything was normal.

"Sensei," Leo spoke up. "Say we're, um… trying to catch a stray pet. Like… a cat."

"A cat?!" Sensei snapped. He was never particularly fond of cats. Probably due to the whole rat thing.

"O-or maybe, like… a parrot?" Leo suggested, trying to cover up his mistake. "Um, what's the best strategy?"

Sensei sighed. "Food, of course. Any animal can be lured by food," he stroked his beard, looking suspicious. "So what is this truly about?"

"Trying-"

Raph suddenly leapt forward and covered Leo's mouth with his hand.

"Uh, nothing, Sensei! Just… talking about parrots like we usually do!"

Sensei raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't look convinced. But, he turned and walked quietly away.

"Food!" Leo said as soon as Sensei was out of earshot. "It's so simple, it's brilliant!"

"No kiddin'. Hell, I could've told yah that," said Angus. "I used to have to set traps for possum and raccoons to keep them off our yard back in Montana."

"You've never had to catch bats before though," Vanessa told him plainly. "What do they eat anyway?"

"Rodents and other small invertebrates," Donnie answered. "Oh yeah, and bugs! The bigger, the better."

"So, where are we gonna find a huge bug?" Mikey asked. "Dress up some sorry sucker in a giant fly costume?"

He chuckled as he folded his arms. At that moment, everyone except Vanessa turned to smirk at him. _Bad choice of words, little bro._ Mikey stared at us, looking confused.

"What?"

About 20 minutes later, Mikey was dressed up in this bright, flashy, butterfly-like costume, complete with extra fake limbs and bug binoculars. Once the binoculars were on, Mikey looked down at himself, examining his new outfit.

"I can't believe you'd let them to this to Mikey," Vanessa whispered, frowning distastefully at the new getup. "He could get hurt."

"Mutants have a natural attraction to Mikey, he usually ends up as bait whether we tell him to or not," I told her. "I don't like it, but it's our best shot right now."

"Kinda feel like bait," Mikey admitted to us.

"Oh, don't think of yourself as bait, Mikey," Raph said with false encouragement. "This is your new super hero costume! You could call yourself, um…"

"Turflytle!" Mikey exclaimed, suddenly happy. "Tur-fly-tle. Oh yeah! Oh, too awesome! What're my powers?"

"Um, y-you can, ehh… hang from a rope…" Leo said in an unsure voice.

"You can cause joy and laughter in a single second," I laughed as Raph shook his head, smiling.

"Ooh, I like that one!" Mikey beamed. "This is sweet!"

"Guys, we don't have much time," Donnie said in a worrying voice. "We need to find Mr. O'Neil and April now!"

"Alright, let's do this," said Leo. "Angus, Vanessa, meet us at the warehouse and be ready when we get there. If anything happens, you know how to reach us. Team, let's move."

* * *

Later that night, we were up in the air with our wing packs. Donnie had attached a rope to Raph's pack so that Mikey could hang from it to help pull off the bug affect.

"Turflytle is on the patrol, _buzz buzz_. His bug eyes spot every crime, _buzz buzz_."

Raph groaned from above him. "Ugh, would you stop saying 'buzz buzz' after every sentence?"

"I could do that, _buzz buzz_. But, I probably won't, _buzz buzz_."

Raph growled before turning downward quickly, forcing Mikey into a billboard. Mikey yelled and flailed his arms around, and had to kick against the billboard to keep from crashing into it.

"Woah dude! Be kind to insects, _buzz buzz_ ," he turned to look up at me. "Nia, make him stop, _buzz buzz_!"

I looked up at Raph, who was still glaring at Mikey. I laughed.

"C'mon Raph, he's just having fun."

"He's annoying."

"If he's annoying, then what does that make you?"

"Wha-?"

Raph whipped his head around to look at me, and I laughed as forced myself ahead of him.

"Ooh, you got burned son, _buzz buzz_!" Mikey jeered.

"Donnie, any sign of Kirby?" Leo asked.

Donnie was keeping a look out below, looking through his telescope. He shook his head.

"Nothing yet," he lowered his telescope. "Raph, shake Mikey around a bit more. He needs to mimic a fly's flight pattern."

"He looks more like a butterfly then a regular fly, to be honest," I whispered to him.

Raph chuckled as he began to shake Mikey around in all kinds of directions, doing some flips and loop-da-loops. It was a wonder he didn't fall off at all.

"Whoa-ho, _buzz buzz_!"

I laughed at his obvious joy as I flew nearby them. I watched Mikey for a moment before looking up at Raph. He was obviously enjoying tossing his brother around. His classic smirk was on his face again. The same smirk that made my face red every time he looked at me with it…

I shook my head and looked forward. Now's not the time to act like a love-struck school girl. We were on a mission, damn it!

Suddenly, Donnie gasped. "Kirby at 4 o'clock!"

I turned my head in time to see a set of long, mutant fangs before they flew past, knocking into Donnie. He spun out of control for a moment, but caught his balance soon after.

"He's heading straight for Mikey!" Leo yelled. "Pull up, pull up!"

Raph started cranking the ropes, trying to pull Mikey upward out of range. But Kirby was coming too fast, he wouldn't make it. In a split second I pulled up towards Raph until I was above him, grabbed him by his shell, and yanked him up as high as I could. I heard Mikey yelp, and I looked down to see Kirby speed by, at least a foot underneath Mikey. He had missed.

"Phew…" I sighed as I released Raph.

"He's coming around again!" Donnie warned.

Raph glared down at Kirby before turning and heading down towards an ally. Kirby started to catch up to me, the others and I following close behind.

"Time for Turflytle to take out his arch nemesis… Wingnut!"

Mikey laughed at his "ingenious" name as he reared his nunchucks back and smacked Kirby in the face, knocking him back several feet.

"You are not giving Mr. O'Neil a monster name!" Donnie yelled angrily.

Kirby screeched, flapping his wings as fast as he could towards Mikey. From up above, I saw Leo hovering over him. I saw his hands move, and suddenly he was falling out of his flight pack and down towards the mutant bat. He landed on him, and immediately Kirby started to freak out. He started spinning and flopping, trying to buck Leo off with all his might, but somehow Leo managed to stay on, grabbing the mutant by his large ears.

"Stick to the plan!" Leo shouted.

"There's a plan?" Raph and Mikey asked together.

"The warehouse! We trap him in the warehouse!"

Kirby was freaking out even more now. He was spinning and looping so wildly and rashly it was a wonder how Leo could stay on. Suddenly, in the mutant bat's effort to throw Leo off, he slammed right into Donnie. Donnie's flight pack stopped working, and he screamed as he began to fall.

"Donnie!" Raph yelled.

 _No!_

"Keep going!" I told him. "We'll meet you at the warehouse!"

I grabbed the handles of my pack and pulled forward, going towards Donnie. He was spinning out of control, heading towards the ground.

"Donnie!" I hollered. "Drop your wings! Drop them now!"

Thankfully, he had heard me, and soon his flight pack fell off his shell and to the ground. I sped up as fast as my pack would let me, reaching my arms out. Just as Donnie was about to hit the ground, I grabbed him by his arms and pulled up, going up towards a nearby building. As soon as we were over the roof I lowered down until our feet hit the surface. Donnie fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Th- thanks, Nia," he sighed. "I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it, bro," I said as I unclipped my wings and let them fall off.

"Donnie! Nia!"

We both whipped around. April was standing on the ledge of the building next to us, waving her arms around.

"Up here! I'm over here!"

"April! Hold on!" Donnie hollered.

He reached behind him and pulled out a grappling hook, spinning and tossing it out towards her. April shuffled over before grabbing the rope and slowly making her way over to us.

* * *

We've been running after the others on foot for the past 10 minutes now. Just as we were rounding the corner I saw Leo and the other suddenly dive downward. The warehouse was only a few feet ahead of us.

"C'mon!" I said.

Just as I reached door lift I heard the sound of glass shattering. I ducked under the door and looked up. Kirby and the guys had fallen into a huge pile. The others quickly jumped back as Leo shouted, "Guys, now!" Suddenly, Angus and Vanessa jumped out from behind the corner and both pulled the giant lever on the wall. There was the sound of squeaking wheels, and a large metal cage slammed down, trapping Kirby.

"Sorry Kirby, it's only temporary," said Leo solemnly.

I walked up to the others, looking sadly at Kirby. He screeched and wailed as he fought to break free. At that moment April and Donnie finally caught up, coming up through the door. April gasped as she sprinted towards the cage. Donnie quickly pulled the door down before running up to us.

"Yo, we did it, Don!" Mikey said happily, raising his hands and waging his tongue. "We caught the Kirby-bat! Waahh- OW!"

"Mikey…!"

Mikey stopped playing as Donnie elbowed him hard in the chest.

"Dad!" April dropped to her knees, holding onto the bars of the cage. "Dad…"

Kirby, for the first time all night, looked calm. And sad. April reached her hand in and placed it on his forehead. He closed his eyes, looking a bit peaceful.

"What're we gonna do with him?" April asked. "I mean, keep him caged forever? Feed him a steady diet of mice and flies?"

"Actually, bats love moths and spiders too, s-"

April gasped, looking close to tears. Angus elbowed Donnie's arm, shaking his head. Donnie chocked as he hung his head in shame.

"Sorry…"

I walked up and put a hand on April's shoulder. "April…?"

April looked so sad, she was almost leaning against me for support. "This is all my fault," she said. "If I hadn't lied to dad…"

"Oh honey, no," Vanessa said, walking up to April. "Don't pin this on yourself."

"She's right, you didn't do anything wrong," I assured her.

"Yeah April," Mikey walked up, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, it was our fault. We spilled the mutagen, we'll fix it."

April seemed to suddenly straighten up. "What? You guys… you guys _spilled_ the mutagen?"

Her face had fallen, and was suddenly looking angry. From behind her, the guys were making various 'stop talking now' gestures at Mikey, but he didn't seem to notice. I gulped, my chest starting to feel heavy.

"Um, Mikey…"

"Yeah. We accidently unleased all that mutagen all over the city, but don't worry. We'll get it back."

Mikey folded his arms, looking very proud of himself. Cautiously, I turned to look at April. I could see her face, and she was shaking.

"Mikey, we didn't actually spill it," I tried to correct him, ignoring the tension building up in my chest. "A fight broke out, the Kraang opened the door and-"

April suddenly stepped back so that my hand fell from her shoulder. I looked at her again, and I felt my heart drop. She looked furious.

"April…?" Vanessa said cautiously.

April turned to face the guys. "You… You…!"

See seemed to angry for words. Kirby then hissed loudly, and Mikey and I quickly backed away from the cage.

"I swear," Donnie vowed. "By Darwin's beard, we'll cure him!"

"YOU MUTATED MY FATHER!"

Kirby screeched loudly as he gripped the bars of the cage and started to tear them apart. We all gasped, April cried out.

"What? No!"

Kirby spun in a circle and flew straight at us, and we all jumped to avoid him. He quickly circled back, and immediately made a beeline for April. She screamed in fear, and Donnie ran up and smacked Kirby away with his staff. The mutant screeched in pain before shooting upward, flying through the hole in the glass ceiling.

"Dad!" April cried out.

But Kirby was gone within seconds. April whipped around, giving us a soul crushing glare. The boys all lowered their heads in shame, I looked at her with pleading eyes. She seemed to be avoiding my gaze. Donnie raised his hand out to her, but she stepped back.

"Don't!" she snapped. "Don't touch me! Keep away from me! I never wanna see your faces ever again!"

With that, she turned and sprinted for the door.

"April!"

"Let her go, man," Raph said calmly. "Give her some space."

Donnie gazed after April as she ran out the door, looking as though he were about to cry. In fact, all of the guys looked heartbroken. I've never seen them so sad. _She can't do this…_

"Nia, wait!"

I ignore Leo as I ran to the door, ducked under it, and ran outside. I gazed all around, trying to see if I could catch her. I heard footsteps to my right, and I ran in that direction. I followed the footsteps until they lead me to an abandoned parking lot. And in the center of the parking lot was April. She had slowed down to a walk, and I could hear her breathing heavily.

"April!"

She whipped around. Her face was still red with anger, and when she saw me she glared before she continued to walk away.

"Leave me alone, Nia."

I continued to follow her. "April, I am so, _so_ sorry that this happened," I told her as sincerely as I could. "You have no idea. But, please, don't walk away like this."

"I'm going home, Nia."

"You can't do this to them. They didn't mean for this to happen-"

"You guys let it happen! You let that mutagen spill out!"

"It was an accident. Do you honestly think we'd do this on purpose?"

She started to walk faster, her feet making large splashes in the puddles from yesterday's rain. I shook my head as I sped up to catch up to her. Why was she doing this?

"April, please…"

"Stop it, Nia."

"April, you're our best friend, don't do this to them."

"I said stop!"

"Just give us a chance, please," I reached up to try to grab her arm. "Donnie will find a cure for your dad and we-"

" _Shut up!_ "

Just as I had managed to touch her arm, April spun around and suddenly pushed me hard in the chest. For a moment, time slowed down. I saw the furious, bloodshot look on April's face as I slowly fell backward off of my feet. Then, it sped up again. There was a loud splash as I fell painfully hard on my back. I had fallen in a very large puddle. For a moment, I didn't even notice that I was almost completely soaked. I was too shocked. I tried to push myself up, my whole body shaking from shock. I slowly raised my head to look up at April, and found myself surprised. Her anger was now replaced with a look of shock, and if I was right, regret.

"Nia, I… I didn't…"

But she just couldn't get the words out. She reached out, as though she were going to help me up, but I felt my body flinch and she froze. Why did I do that? I wasn't scared of her, was I?

"Nia!"

I heard Vanessa and Angus' voices, and next thing I knew they were both kneeling down beside me in the puddle.

"Oh hun, are you okay?" Vanessa asked frantically, moving my hair out of the way. "What happened?"

I didn't answer. I just stared up at April.

"What did you do?" Angus asked her angrily, keeping his arms around my shoulders.

April didn't say anything. She just stood there, staring at her hands, looking disgusted at something.

"I… I'm sorry…"

And just like that, she had turned and sprinted away. I remember opening my mouth to scream for her to come back, but my voice seemed to be lost. Vanessa hugged me tightly as Angus placed a hand on my head, smoothing my wet hair.

* * *

 **Mikey's P.O.V.**

Dude, this is not how this was supposed to go. First Kirby gets mutated, now April leaves. Man, me and my big mouth.

"This is all very grave news," Sensei as he listened to what had happened. "Very grave indeed."

"I can't believe this is happening," Donnie said lowly. "Poor April…"

"Do not dwell on the past," Sensei turned to face us. "You must find every last canister of mutagen. You must search every street, every park and playground, every building and rooftop, before we have even more mutants on our hands."

"You're right, Sensei," Leo stood up, still looking as bummed as the rest of us, but still said strongly, "We need to start figuring out a plan now. Donnie, you got a map of the area where we were tonight?"

"Yeah," Donnie seemed to force himself up to his feet. "In my lab. C'mon."

We all got up and started to head to Donnie's lab. As I looked around and noticed that dudette wasn't anywhere around.

"Where's Nia?" I asked.

"She's probably still in her room," said Raph. "She's been in there since she came back from walking Vanessa and Angus home."

"I'll get her."

I went towards the bedrooms as the others went into Donnie's lab. I marched up to Nia's room and was about to knock, when I heard it. Sniffing… I froze, placing the side of my head against the door so I could hear better. Crying… Nia was crying. Without thinking I immediately opened the door. Nia was sitting on the floor against her bed, arms folded over her knees, crying softly. She was obviously trying to stay quiet. But, the second I opened the door she stopped crying and snapped her head up to look up at me. Her eyes were red and her face was totally wet.

"Mikey…" Nia wiped her face off. "Don't you knock?"

"Nia… what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just… please, go away."

I slowly walked over until I was in front of her and then kneeled down. I grabbed her hands and pulled them away to look at her. Her eyes looked like they had more tears coming. Also, her skin was freezing!

"Geez dudette, did you go swimming before you came back?"

Nia didn't say anything. I could feel her starting to shake in my hands. A second later she took a deep breath and then started to cry, thick tears falling from her face. I immediately scooted forward and pulled her into my arms. She hugged me back before she started to sob, her noises muffled as she cried into my chest. I cradled her in my arms as I sat down and she practically fell into me. I held her close as I kissed the top of her head.

* * *

 **Hey guys, it's me. I know it's been a while and I'm sorry. I was sort of on the fence on this story. Like, i like it but at the same time it feels like it could've been better, and I also have nothing more to add to it. I just hope you guys like it. I'll see you in the next chapter, sooner hopefully.**


	7. Invasion of the Squirrelanoids

**Hey guys! Look, before you all ask. Yes, I plan on finishing my HTTYD stories, I've just not had any motivation until recently, and I want to make sure you lot are getting the bed I can possibly give you. Because that's what you all deserve.**

 **I've been sick, for lack of a better word, for a while. And, it's effected my motivation for a lot of things, not just writing. But, at the same time, writing is one of the few things that makes me feel better. And I need to act more like it. But, I am going to be getting a job this summer, so that might complicate things. So, if you're still here, thank you so much for your patience and I will work as hard as I physically can. Thank you all so much. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Ch. 2  
Invasion of the Squirrelanoids

It had been a few days since the mutagen incident. In those few days, the boys and I have done nothing but search for the mutagen canisters. So far, we haven't had much luck in finding many of them. Donnie's tracker offered a little bit of help, but not much. With so much mutagen scattered around the city it was hard for us to track down even one. But, there was more than just mutagen going through our minds. It had been 3 days since any of us had heard from April, let alone seen her. After crying my eyes out well into the night, I had tried to call her. Obviously, she hadn't answered. I tried texting her, telling her that I was sorry and that she did nothing wrong. She has since not answered back.

Things have gotten a little more difficult for me as of late. Since joining Inside Elegance, I've been leaving the lair and staying out even more for band practices, which would then turn into hangouts. The others had already gotten a list of songs that they wanted to play on Halloween, and since this was their first real performance they wanted to make sure that everything went right. Sensei had made it very clear to me that my training and my duty came first, and I understood. Because of this, I had been the reason Martin had been constantly rescheduling our practices. Obviously, I hadn't told them the truth as to why I was constantly busy now, but I always managed to give them some excuse. Something like "My dad needs me to do more work around the house", or whatever. They all assured me that they understood perfectly- their parents seemed to be just as strict when it came to responsibility over the house- but I still felt like a burden to them.

Tonight was one of those nights.

We had just gotten done with an hour long practice session at the theater, and for once they all seemed to have things to do other than hangout afterward. _Thank God, no need for excuses today._ Ace and Angus were already heading home, both leaving in their trucks. Martin and Joseph were still picking up a few of their things and loading them into Martin's car.

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?" Martin asked. "There's still enough room in the back."

"It's cool," I told them as I was messing around with my guitar. "My brothers will be here soon enough to pick me up."

"Alright then."

I glanced down at my guitar as I strummed a few strings. I frowned. The thing had been sounding a bit off all practice long. I managed to tune it out enough to where it wouldn't be too noticeable while playing together, but I still noticed it.

"Still playing flat?" Joey asked.

I looked up. "Yeah. I don't know what's up with it."

"Hmm… let me see."

Joey walked away from the car and over to me, holding his hand out. I hesitated for a second before handing him my guitar. He held it in his hands, strumming and tightening the strings.

"You know what? I bet you need some new strings. These feel like they're about to snap any second."

"Aw damn, I don't have any more strings," I grumbled. "I guess I'll just buy some on the way home."

"Hey, I've got some strings back at my place. I could give you some."

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought Angus said you didn't play guitar?"

"Well… I don't," Joey admitted. "But, I've got a friend who works part-time at the music store, and it's always good to have supplies for everyone, just in case."

"Stop saying that like it was your idea," Martin hollered at him. "You're the one who said it was stupid until Ace needed some new drumsticks after you broke his."

I covered my mouth as I snorted, and Joey rolled his eyes.

"Anyway… if you want, I could take your guitar back to my place and replace them. I could even clean it too, if you'd like?"

I blinked, surprised by the offer. Joey was easily a friendly person, but this was the first time he had offered to do something this generous for me.

"Oh, you don't have to do that…"

"Don't be silly, it's fine," Joey kneelt down and placed my guitar back into my case. "I gotta make sure our best girl has everything she needs for our performance, and we've got the best strings in town."

He smirked up at me, his blue eyes shining. I gulped as I nervously brushed my bangs behind my ears.

"Um… okay then," I agreed. "But, when can I get it back?"

"Let me see your phone."

I took out my T-Phone and handed it to him. He chuckled, commenting on the turtle-like shell shape of it before he tapped away at it. I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets, nervously twiddling my thumbs. After a second he handed me my phone back.

"There," he said. "Now, you have my number. Just text me whenever you're free, and we'll meet up somewhere so I can give it back."

"Yeah, okay."

"Really? You're using that method?" Martin looked unimpressed as he stuck his head out of the driver's window. "You've used that strategy 3 times already, and it failed all 3."

"Zip it, dude!" Joey hissed.

I giggled. Joey and Martin always bickered like this. They acted more like brothers than cousins in my opinion.

"Don't worry, I'll text you," I assured him.

Joey turned to look at me, and he smiled. He picked up my guitar case and gently placed it in the back of Martin's car.

"Awesome. I'll see you later."

"We'll let you know when the next practice is," Martin added.

I nodded as they slowly drove away. Joey stuck his head out of the window and waved his beanie around at me. I laughed, shaking my head as I waved back. They rounded the corner and disappeared.

I waited a moment before taking out my phone and quickly dialing Leo.

" _Nia, you finally make it out of practice?"_

"Just got done. You boys out yet?"

" _Just got out. Stay where you are, we'll come get you."_

"Alright. See yah."

I stood there for probably 10 minutes before I heard the familiar tire squeaks of the Shellraiser. Sure enough, it came zooming from around the corner, skidding slightly as it sped up the road and turned into an alley right next to the theater. I ran over to the edge of the alley and saw the others already filing out of the van.

"About time," I said, running up to them. "Find any mutagen on the way here?"

"No," Raph pointed a thumb at Donnie. "Professor Dork-instein couldn't stay tracked on a single one."

"Hey, it's not my fault that the whole city is covered in canisters!"

"Guys, stay quiet!" Leo hissed. "It's not that late, there might still be people out. We need to stay stealthy."

Raph rolled his eyes. Donnie walked forward towards the edge of the alley and put on what looked like an odd set of binoculars.

"My ooze-specs are picking up a mutagen trail," he said. "C'mon!"

We all followed Donnie out towards the street. I glanced down next to me at Mikey, and I noticed that he was looking at a comic book. Judging by the cover, it was another horror comic.

"Isn't that your mint condition comic, Mikey? You might wanna keep it in the van so it doesn't get messed up."

"No way, I'm almost at the good party," he said, not even able to tear his eyes away from the comic. "Besides, it's only _near_ mint condition now. Raph smacked me in the head with it."

I rolled my eyes as we continued forward. We walked up to the corner of the building before Leo stopped, forcing us all to halt.

"Remember," he whispered. "This might be another trap, so we need to be careful."

"We're always careful, dude," I said. "The universe just makes it difficult for us sometimes."

Leo gave me an unamused look. "Shush, you."

I giggled. We continued forward, heading towards the other side of the theater. There was a soft crunch, and we all turned. Mikey, who still had his nose stuck in his comic, hadn't been paying attention and had stepped on a popcorn bag. He glanced up at us and chuckled sheepishly.

"Some ninja," Raph hissed.

"Guys, over here."

We all turned and ran over to Donnie. He used a stick to dig through some trash and then dug out a broken canister, still spilling mutagen.

"It's half empty, but one more mutagen canister recovered."

"True," I said slowly. "But, um… where did the rest of the mutagen go then?"

Before any of them could answer, there was a loud, fearful yell. In unison, we all turned to look at Mikey, but he was still reading his comic quietly.

"Wasn't me."

We heard it again, and this time we heard it come from the theater entrance. We all ran over to the edge of the entrance and paused. I peeked around the corner and saw a homeless man sitting with his back pressed against the wall. He looked absolutely terrified. In front of his feet sat…

"Why is that dude afraid of a cute, tiny little squirrel?"

The squirrel turned its head, staring its beady, black eyes toward us. A second later its mouth split open in four different directions as a snake-like tongue (no, it actually looked like a fricking snake!) stuck out and whipped around. At once, the guys and I screamed in terror as we instantly clung to each other like a bunch of scaredy-cats. That seems to happen a lot, now that I think about it…

The squirrel then turned and crawled towards the scarred hobo. It scurried up his arm, jumped towards his face, and _into his mouth!_ The man chocked and spluttered as the creature went down his throat. A second later the fell backwards, unmoving.

"Now can I scream in horror?!" Mikey yelled, still clutching onto us.

I gulped, feeling a bit sick. "I think I know where the rest of that mutagen went…"

"Now what do we do?" asked Raph.

Still clinging onto each other, we all turned to look at Leo, who was still staring at the unconscious hobo. He shook his head as he cleared his throat.

"We have to take him back to the lair."

"What?!" Raph snapped, instantly releasing himself from us, causing us to do the same as well.

"You're right," said Donnie. "We'll take him back and examine him in my lab."

Donnie, Raph and Leo all helped in picking the man up and carrying him to the Shellraiser. I ran up to the back doors and threw them open, hopping inside to help get him in. Mikey stood off to the side, looking worried.

"Dudes, this is a terrible idea," Mikey said warningly, looking at his comic. "This is exactly how the alien got onto the ship in my comic book."

At that moment Raph stopped walking and dropped the hobo's feet.

"Maybe Mikey's right."

At once, we all stopped what we were doing to stare at him, dumbfounded.

"What?" we said in unison.

"I mean, the comic book thing is totally crazy," he said quickly. "But, I can think of a million other reasons it's a bad idea to take this guy back to the lair, starting with Splinter."

"He's got a point, bro," I said to Leo. "I can't imagine Sensei would be too happy about this."

"Guys, that squirrel was clearly a mutant creature," said Donnie. "Which means this is our fault!"

"And our responsibility to fix it," Leo added. "I'll deal with Splinter."

I sighed. _I can't wait to see this…_

* * *

"Master Splinter! Um, let me explain…"

"Indeed. Please explain the reason you have brought a complete stranger into our _secret hidden lair_."

Leo flinched slightly as he slowly turned to look at us. The others and I were all holding the hobo up and had been carrying him to Donnie's lab, but had stopped at Sensei's angry voice. We knew this would happen. Leo cleared his throat and quickly adopted a falsly confident smile.

"Oh-ho, you'll laugh your whiskers off at this one!"

He chuckled nervously, and we all started chuckling along with him. Sensei, not looking amused, slammed his staff on the floor, and we all stiffened. He glared down at Leo.

"Dojo. Now."

He turned and walked away without another word. Leo sighed, and slowly followed him to the dojo.

"Phew, close call," Mikey murmured.

We all went back to carrying the hobo into the lab. Donnie released him to remove some of the mess that was on his table.

"Careful with the specimen," he told us. "I wanna run some tests on him. Take it easy, guys. Easy…"

While Mikey and I were busy trying to be gentle, Raph wasted no time in slamming the poor hobo onto the table, knocking some remaining veils and tools off the table in the process. Donnie glared at Raph angrily. He shook his head as he picked up a magnifying glass and proceeded to examine our guest.

"So…" Mikey slid up to me and Raph, now holding his comic book again. "Wanna guess the first thing the crew did when they brought the guy back on the space ship in my comic book?"

"Rent him a spot at the Hilton?" I guessed sarcastically.

Mikey shoved the comic into our faces. I was met with an image of a doctor who appeared to be examining an unconscious man on a lab table. Mikey lowered the comic, and I noticed how similar the picture was to what Donnie was doing.

"Oh…"

Raph grunted as he snatched the comic from Mikey's grasp, crushing it in his hands. Mikey looked as if he has just seen someone kick a puppy.

"Enough with the comic already, you're makin' me loopy."

Raph threw the comic on the ground and stomped away. Mikey stared down at his comic before glaring up at Raph.

"Great! Now it went from near mint, to totally messed up!"

"It's not like you were planning on selling it or anything, bro," I said, patting his shoulder. "You can still read it, right?"

Mikey sighed. "Yeah… it just felt nice to have a comic that wasn't crumpled or soaked in sewer water."

I frowned. He did have a point there. It wasn't easy for any of us to have that many nice things, being in the sewer and remaining unknown to the world. But, that's the price we had to pay sometimes.

At that moment the doors to the lab opened. Leo walked in, looking more calm than before.

"Okay, we're cool," he said. "But, let's try to get this guy outta here before Master Splinter is done meditating. Where're we at, Donnie?"

"Running an internal scan right now to see if…" he typed away at his computer for a moment before, "Yep, still in there."

An image had popped up on the screen that showed the hobo's skeleton and organs. In his stomach was the outline of the squirrel that had went into his mouth. But, something was different.

"Woah…"

"Wait… does it have two heads?"

"It's not just two heads," I said. "It's two squirrels."

"Alright guys," Raph hollered, and I turned to see him looking rather bored, eating out of a bag of popcorn. "If you need me I'll be beating Leo's high score in pinball-"

But as he turned there was sudden movement. The hobo bolted upright, screaming and shouting obscurities.

"I think that freaky squirrel made him a little nutty."

I felt my face fall into a deadpan expression as I slowly turned my head to stare a Leo. He looked back at me.

"What?"

"You did not just say that."

Leo blushed and turned away, looking embarrassed.

"Dudes, I got this!" Mikey said confidently. "I can totally translate crazy."

With that, he walked up to the hobo and leaned in close to listen to his gibberish. He frowned and nodded as he listened, apparently deep in concentration.

"He's saying the squirrel licked some ooze and transformed into a mutant. It's been chasing me for days now but I'm totally okay."

"If by 'okay' you mean 'totally insane'!" Raph retorted.

"Well, at least no one will believe a crazy guy if he talks about giant ninjas turtles living in a sewer," Leo said, not sounding too thrilled.

"Hey, I'm not looking to have anyone come popping into our home either," I added.

At that point there was a loud, squirming noise. The hobo gasped and started whimpering and crying, his body twisting in all kinds of ways. He fell down on his back and started thrashing around, starting to making wrenching sounds. Before we could do anything he sat up, opened his mouth and vomited into the air before falling back, apparently unconscious.

We all screamed in shock. Two large balls of brown fur flew outward and landed on the ground, revealed to be two small squirrels.

"This… this is unprecedented!" Donnie stared in shock. "The squirrels replicate inside a host. They divided like a single-celled organism."

"That's exactly what happened in my comic book!" Mikey gasped.

I blinked. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not!" he frowned. "Well… maybe not exactly. They exploded out of the dudes' butt."

I giggled. There was a loud scream, and I turned in time to see the hobo suddenly running out of the lab, arms in the air.

"I'll show our friend to the door," Raph said before setting his popcorn down and running after the man.

"Don't hit him!" I yelled after him. He chuckled and ran off.

The two squirrels squeaked as they scurried around. They then jumped up onto the lab table and started nibbling on the popcorn Raph had left behind.

"We need to catch them," Donnie whispered to us. "They're emitting dangerous amounts of energy."

"Move very slowly…" Leo ordered. "We don't wanna startle 'em."

"And keep your mouths shut," I added quietly.

We all nodded, and slowly in unison started to walked towards the squirrels, taking large, over exaggerated steps. As I neared the desk I slowly raised my hands up to the squirrel that was closest to me. I was just about to wrap my hands around its middle when it whipped around and screeched, waving its long tongue at me. We all screamed, and Leo threw caution to the winds as he quickly launched himself at the squirrels.

"Get 'em!"

The squirrels turned and started to scurry away. At once, we all started running after them. Every time it seems like one of us would come close to grabbing one, it would somehow slip away from us. They ran across the floor, around the desks and tables, up the walls, and even jumped across the room.

"Hey! Watch my stuff!" Donnie yelled as Mikey pushed over a few filing cabinets in his effort to catch a squirrel.

"Sorry about the mess, Donnie!" I hollered as I chased the second squirrel.

I reached my hands down to grab him, but as he turned sharply I lost my balance and fell by the lab entrance. I groaned as I pushed myself up, and to my slight embarrassment I saw a pair of green feet standing in front of me. Raph had returned.

"Nice balance," he jeered, holding his hand out to help me.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed it. "Whatever. Did our little hobo friend leave?"

"Yep, he's gone," Raph glanced behind me and his face fell. "But, we still have plenty of crazy!"

Before I could do more than turn around both squirrels had scurried off past our feet. I blinked.

"What the-?"

"There they go!" yelled Mikey.

Raph and I turned to look at the others, and gasped. In their rush to chase the squirrels, the other three had ran right into Raph and I, knocking us all to the ground in a heap. They all pushed and shoved as they struggled to get back up and keep running. It wasn't until they had gotten off of me that I realized that I wasn't laying on the floor, and my hands weren't pressing against concrete. Raph and I seemed to sit up at the same time, and it was then that I noticed I was laying right on top of him. My face started to heat up as he stared at me.

"Uh-! S-sorry!" I stammered, scooting back from him.

Raph gulped, clearing his throat. "I-it's okay."

There was a painfully awkward pause as Raph and I sat there, purposely looking away from each other. It wasn't until we heard the others yelling that the awkwardness was broken.

"Guys, c'mon!" Leo ordered at us. "What're you sitting around for? Help us seal off the lair! We can't let them escape!"

"Well, I don't exactly want 'em in here with us!" Raph retorted as he and I both got to our feet.

I heard a squeak and looked down to see one heading straight for my feet. I quickly bent down with my hands out to grab him. He was heading right for me-

"Nia, watch out!"

I looked up in time to see Mikey riding fast on his skateboard before he ran right into me. We both slammed to the ground and the squirrels scurried away. I groaned, throwing my head back.

"And that's why Sensei says no skateboarding in the lair..."

Donnie suddenly ran past, waving his staff at one of the squirrels. As the staff swished down the creature landed on top of it. Donnie blinked and tried to shake him off, but the squirrel screeched and started running up the staff towards his face. Donnie yelled and tossed his staff away. It went flying and knocked a box out of Leo's hand, who had been using it to try to catch the other squirrel.

"This is getting ridiculous," I groaned irritably, jumping up to my feet.

Suddenly, the two squirrels split up. One started to head towards the dojo, while the other hurried towards the hallway and into one of the bedroom doors.

"Not my room!" Mikey cried as he ran after the squirrel, Raph following close behind.

"You guys get the one out of the dojo," I told Donnie and Leo. "I'll help them get the one out of Mikey's room."

They nodded. I turned and started running after the other two. I skidded to a halt in front of Mikey's room and walked in. It had been a while since the last time I entered Mikey's room, but when I did, it had been in a much better state that it was currently in. Shelves were over flowing onto the ground, boxes of pizza and Chinese takeout scattered the floor, and I could see what looked like dirty clothes. Which was odd, seeing as how none of the guys wore anything besides their belts and masks.

"Geez Mikey, when's the last time you cleaned?" Raph asked, looking around in disgust. "And since when did yah start wearing tighty-whities?"

"Huh?"

I whipped my head around, and saw that Raph was indeed holding up a pair of large white underpants using his sai. They had multiple stains covering them, including a large red one that smelled like stale pizza sauce. Mikey, who had been looking underneath his bed, popped back up and promptly took the undergarments from his brother.

"That, my friend, is a story for another day."

I snorted. "Can't wait to hear that one."

"Maybe you will, sis. Maybe you will," Mikey tossed the underwear off into a random direction. "Right now, let's just focus on the squirrels. Comprede?"

There was a loud thud and a squishing sound. We all turned. Mikey's underwear had hit a stack of pizza boxes and knocked them over. Several slices of pizza had spilled out and were now laying on the filthy green floor.

"Ugh, dude! Is that the pizza from Saturday?" I groaned, pinching my nose.

"Aw sweet!" Mikey reached down and picked up a piece. "Awesome idea! I just impressed myself."

He tossed the pizza up into the air as he leapt up and jumped onto the bed. The slice landed on his head and continued to be tossed up and down as Mikey jumped on his bed.

"Here squirrely, squirrely squirrel! Come get it!"

Raph and I glanced at each other. We were both thinking the same thing. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh… alright."

He leaned down and picked up a piece. He sniffed it cautiously.

"Is it safe?" I asked warily.

Raph shrugged. Then, with no hesitation, he took a large bite of the pizza. I cringed as I watched him eat it, then stared as he continued to eat it.

"Here squirrel!" he called out. "Have a tiny bite!"

I raised my eyebrows as I stared down at the pizza on the floor. I shrugged as I picked on up and started carrying it around the room.

"Hey, squirrel," I called out, looking around the bed. "We've got some pizza for you."

"C'mon little squirrel! Man… Where is that little sucker?"

I don't know if it was the pizza or the atmosphere of the room, but we all just kind of got sidetracked while looking for the squirrel. Pretty soon we had forgotten about the little creature and has started enjoying ourselves. The pizza actually wasn't that bad and we started chilling out in Mikey's messy room.

"And so I said let me take a swing at it, right?" I said. "And I ended up beating his high score. You should've see the look on Ace's face."

Raph were both sitting on the floor. He was leaning against Mikey's bed frame while my head was in his lap. Raph put his hands behind his head as he chuckled.

"Man, your bandmates are a riot. You should bring 'em over some time."

"Yeah, I'm sure that'll blow over nicely."

"Woo, this pizza is the best!"

Mikey cheered as he continuously jumped on the bed. He did one final jump as he ate his last bite of pizza and landed flat on his bed.

"Four day old, pepperoni, jellybean, and maple syrup."

"You guys come up with the weirdest pizza toping," I said, shifting in Raph's lap.

"Oh, look who's talkin'!" Raph snapped. "Who was the one that ordered gram crackers and marshmallows on her pizza last time?"

Raph smirked at me as Mikey laughed, pointing a finger at me. I rolled my eyes as I folded my arms, pouting like a child.

"Wait… what were we supposed to be doin' again?"

Before we could answer there a strange, clicking noise coming behind Mikey's action figures. I sat straight up as we all looked up at the shelf. Suddenly, the squirrel appeared between Mikey's toys, looking down at us.

"The squirrel!" Raph leapt up to his feet. "There you are!"

He took out his sais and immediately started going at the squirrel. He started repeatedly stabbing into the shelve, missing the squirrel but hitting the toys. At one point he stabbed one straight through and flung it off his sai. Mikey gasped.

"Raph! That was my limited edition Action Kick Unicorn Man…"

"There he is!" I shouted.

But even as I reached behind me to grab my tessen, Raph jumped down and started going at it again. The squirrel was too fast however, and immediately leapt up onto his arm. And scurried upward, ran around his shoulders, and suddenly forced its way through Raph's mouth.

"Raph!"

"No!"

I ran forward and tried to grab the squirrels tail, but it had already vanished.

"Spit it out! Spit it out now!"

Raph dropped his sais in panic and opened his mouth as wide as he could. Nothing came out. He even took his hand and put his fingers down his throat. He made a few heaving sounds, but nothing came up.

"Oh no…"

* * *

"Hold him still!" Donnie ordered.

Leo and Mikey both forced Raph's arms down and shut the clamps down on his wrists. He swore loudly at them as they did the same to his ankels.

"Nia, grab the ," Donnie said. "It's in the box under the table."

I nodded as I knelt down and looked all around. I rummaged in the boxes for a moment before I finally found it. The whole time, Raph was squirming and yelling on top of the table.

"Hng! It's in my guts!" he cried. "I can feel it in there munchin' on that popcorn I just ate! IT'S FREAKING ME OUT, MAN!"

Donnie placed the suctioncup over Raph's mouth as I reached up and pulled his head back down.

"Okay, yah gotta stop with the 'this'," Donnie said, making a talking gesture with his free hand. "I can't hear what's going on inside your intestines."

"Oh, I'll tell you what's going on in there," said Mikey, who once again has his comic book in hand. "Lemme see… Right now, the mutant squirrel is probably secreting a mucus into your stomach lining, so that when it multiplies…"

Everyone groaned in unison.

"Mikey, not helping," Donnie paused. "Though, probably about 98 percent accurate."

Raph screeched. "Get 'em out, get 'em out, _get 'em out_!"

I grabbed his shoulders and forced him back down. I glared up at Donnie as he listened to Raph's insides. He sighed.

"Just as I thought," he muttered. "We need to perform surgery, stat. Nurse!"

Mikey suddenly reached down and pulled out a giant saw, winding it up so the blades were moving very fast. Raph and I both screamed in terror as the blades came closer to his plastron.

"LET ME OUTTA HERE!"

At the last second Mikey pulled back. At once, all three of them started laughing their shells off. The clamps around Raph's wrists and ankles popped open. He stared at the others for a moment before he slowly got to his feet, hands raised up as though about to grab something.

"Why you… you…!"

I quickly stepped in front of him and placed my hands on his chest to keep him from moving forward.

"Guys, what the hell!" I turned my head to yell at them. "This isn't funny!"

"Aw c'mon Nia, we were just-"

But Mikey was cut off as Raph suddenly yelled, falling to his knees on the table. I turned to see him hunched over, his hands on his stomach. He started making hacking noises, and I thought I could hear something shifting around from his stomach. Donnie quickly backed away from the table, arms held out.

"Raph? Are you…?"

"Bros, brace for grossness!" Mikey warned.

No sooner had Mikey said this, then Raph sat up and hurled. His mouth burst open, and two more squirrels appeared in a mass of stomach vomit. They both landed on their feet and screeched. But before we could do anything, there was a loud crack and the lights suddenly died out.

"Eh, Donnie? Some sciencey stuff would be a big help right now!"

Donnie stood there, taken aback by the whole situation. Suddenly, the squirrels reared up on their high legs, and then their fur started to glow an electric green color.

"Glowing… glowing's bad!" Mikey said. "Glowing is real bad!"

At that moment the lab doors burst open. Sensei was standing there, looking as though he had come running.

"I see it is happening here as well."

"These things are putting out a crazy energy signature!" Donnie stated, looking down at his scanner. "It's messing with my analyzer."

"We're doomed. Doomed, I tell you!"

"Look, let's just calm down, okay?" I said over everyone. "Let's just find those things before they escape."

They all nodded. We all walked out of the lab and into the living room, Donnie and his scanner leading the way. We all reached the pit and looked around, scanning the area. There were no squirrels in sight.

"Split up and search each room," Sensei ordered.

"Split up?!" Mikey yelped. "Clearly you don't read comic either, Sensei, 'cause splitting up is the-"

"Silence! You are trained warriors. We will find these creatures. Now."

"Split up in the dark to search for multiplying mutants," Raph muttered. "Could we pick a more clique way to get eaten?"

"One of us could twist our ankle, or our T-Phones could die, or-"

I reached up and gently covered Donnie's mouth with my hand. He blinked down at me.

"Not really helping the situation, Donnie."

"Listen to the lady," Raph pushed Donnie hard. "Move!"

I rolled my eyes as I walked in a direction opposite from the others. I stepped out of the pit and walked over to the dummy. There was an eerie silence as everyone searched around. There seemed to be no sign of the squirrel. Then there was a scream.

"SQUIRRELANOIDS!"

I whipped around at the sound of Mikey's voice. He and Raph ran out of the bedrooms hallway, screaming in terror. Coming out right behind them was a giant, glowing creature that looked like a knockoff from the Alien movie. It let out a terrible noise and started to chase after them. Suddenly, Donnie burst through the lab doors, his scanner louder than before.

"Oh no… Leo! They're here!"

"Donnie, watch out!"

I sprinted forward and pushed Donnie out of the way of an oncoming Squirrelanoid that was heading right for him. We both fell to the ground and it ran past us, scurrying all around.

"They're gonna brain-suck us!" Mikey cried.

A third Squirrelanoid knocked Leo off of the upper level and landed in front of me and Donnie. It had us pinned in the corner with nowhere to go. I reached down for my tessen but felt nothing but the holster. It must've fallen out in the struggle. The creature snarled as it charged at us, opening its jaws as what looking like a second head shot out of its mouth. I panicked and clung onto Donnie as he wrapped his arms around me. There was a loud smack, and I looked up to see Sensei standing in front of us. He had smacked the creature away. He leapt forward and began to fight all of the mutants at once. They all pounced and swatted at him, but he was too fast. He smacked one so far away that it fell into the pool. It didn't resurface, and the other two followed after it.

"The sewers lead to the surface!" Leo cried. "If those things get out…!"

"Go then," Sensei ordered. "Quickly. I will stay to defend the lair in case the beasts doubleback."

Mikey gulped, trembling. "Which means we have to go after them alone, in the dark sewer, without you…?

Sensei straightened up. "Who among you wants to prove you are the bravest, the strongest of will, the worthiest of ninjas?"

* * *

Not surprisingly, none of us were too keen on going out to the sewers with those things out there. So, Donnie decided the breakout Metalhead to go look for them instead. I mean, it was kind of a long shot, but if it meant that my brothers were safe from harm, then it was fine with me.

We were all currently sitting right in front of the TV, watching from Metalhead's facecam as Donnie controlled him through the sewers.

"Master Splinter," he said. "I'd say there's some kind of lesson here, like… I don't know. Brains over bravery or… somethin'."

"I'd say the 'something' part is most accurate."

"Can't disagree with you there, Sensei," I told him.

Sensei gave me a small nod. From next to me, Mikey was looking from his comic to the TV and back again, looking pretty nervous. Then he sighed as he set it down.

"I'm not gonna say this happened in my comic… but this happened in my comic!"

"You literally just said you wouldn't say that," I informed him.

"Yeah… well, it did though!"

"Well, what happened next then?"

But before he could answer there was a loud screech from the TV.

"What was that?"

Donnie moved the camera to look down a sewer hallway. At the end was the shadow of one of the mutants.

"There's one!" Leo hissed.

Metalhead started to move forward, and as he did we all leaned our heads closer to the screen. Then, Sensei's head appeared right next to ours, looking at the screen as well. I mentally chuckled to myself before focusing again. Suddenly, a Squirrelanoid's face appeared on screen, screeching before the feed went fuzzy.

"Metalhead!" Donnie screamed.

The camera went into focus again, only to reveal a decapitated Metalhead. He stomped his feet around for a moment before falling to his knees and crumpling in a heap.

"Page 33," Mikey breathed. "Oh man!"

Donnie ran up to the screen and pressed his face against it, as though trying to comfort Metalhead.

"Don't worry, little pal. I'll make yah all better!"

I scooted forward and patted Donnie's shell, whispering words of comfort. I turned back to look at the other, who all had 'what do we do now' expressions on their faces.

"I do not want to say I was right," said Sensei. "But… I was right."

* * *

We had no choice but to go into the sewers ourselves. Donnie was leading the way with his tracker, Leo following right behind, and the rest of us bringing up the rear. The sewers were especially dark now, which made everything a little bit scarier.

"Just throwing this out there," Raph piped up halfway through the tunnel. "What are we supposed to do after we find these… Squirrelanoid monsters?"

"Don't worry," Mikey said quietly. "They'll find us."

Raph glared. "You always know just the right thing to say."

"Yeah, not really the most reassuring thing to say, dude."

At that moment Donnie stopped walking, and so did we. His scanner started going off as he looked at the two tunnels from our left and our right.

"I'm picking up strong readings from both tunnels," he said.

"Then we split up," Leo said as he leapt into the left one.

"Again?!" Mikey snapped. "Didn't you guys get-?"

"But this time, in teams. Okay?"

Mikey stood there, blinking for a second. Then he frowned.

"It's still splitting up! We're toast! Game over, man. Game over…"

Leo rolled his eyes. "This way, Donnie. Nia, stay with them."

I nodded. "You got it, chief."

Raph groaned. "Sure! You take the guy with the tracking device! C'mon, you two."

He went ahead and leapt into the opposite tunnel. Mikey stood still, his knees noticeably shaking. I walked up to him and grabbed his elbow comfortingly.

"Come on Mikey, let's go."

He gulped, and nodded. Still holding onto me, I lead him into the tunnel as we followed right behind Raph.

We were walking for about 10 minutes and we still hadn't found any sign of the Squirrelanoids. I was beginning to fear we might have missed them.

"So, uh… how did they defeat the aliens in your comic book?" Raph asked as he shined the flashlight around.

"Oh! So, now you wanna know!" Mikey jeered, making Raph groan. "Well, first the aliens picked off the crew in the dark one by one sucking their faces off until there was only one remaining survivor!"

Mikey noticed we were no longer beside him and turned. Raph and I had stopped walking halfway through his explanation. We were both standing there, gaping at him.

"Yikes," I mumbled.

"Sorry I asked," Raph choked out.

At that moment, there was a soft chirping sound. We all flinched and Raph shined his flashlight around.

"Wait, did ya hear that?"

"Yeah," I whispered. "Where is it?"

"Um, guys?"

We turned to look at Mikey, who was pointing upward at the ceiling. I gulped as I looked up. Sure enough, there was a large Squirrelanoid hovering right above us, hanging from the sewer pipes. It opened its mouth, and it second head popped out and screeched.

"Run!"

The other two didn't need telling twice, and we all turned and sprinted towards a nearby tunnel. But, just as we reached it two more figures appeared. Leo and Donnie, closely followed by the other two Squirrelanoids.

"Watch it!"

We all crashed into each other and landed in a pile on the ground. We groaned and quickly pushed ourselves up as we heard the creatures coming back. I took out my tessen as the others took out their own weapons. The Squirrelanoids snarled as they began circling us.

"They'll crack our shells like nuts," Mikey whimpered.

"How do you think I feel?" I asked him. "They'll probably twist my spine like a pretzel!"

"Then we might as well go down in a blaze of glory!" Raph said determinably.

I gulped as I held my tessen at the ready. In one movement we all separated, leaping straight for the Squirrelanoids. Donnie and I both headed for the same one. He landed in front of it, and I landed behind. The mutant snarled as it went for him, but Donnie already had his Bo staff ready. He spun it around his head before swinging it at the creatures' face. It leaned its head backwards and started to step backwards. At that moment I threw my tessen out and it flew up and hit the monster in its head, bouncing off and coming back to my hand. It whipped around and screeched as it advanced on me. It swung both of its large paws at me, and I cucked to avoid them. But, it swung its large tail underneath me and knocked me off over the edge of the level.

"Nia!"

I fell to the ground and tumbled for a second before I landed on my knees. Leo was suddenly in front of me and helped me to my feet. As I did the others were suddenly beside us, and the Squirrelanoids were surrounding us into a corner.

"Alright Mikey, I'm in; how does the sole survivor beat the aliens?" Raph asked.

"And make it quick," I added nervously. "I do not wann die by mutant squirrels."

Mikey beamed. "It was so awesome! He baited the alien into an airlock, and then he-"

He suddenly gasped. Then, he ran forward, jumped up, then bounced off of a Squirrelanoid's head onto the upper level and ran off. There was a few seconds of silence.

"Did he just bail on us?!" Raph snapped.

Leo shook his head. "I think he's got a plan."

The Squirrelanoids charged at us again. Leo leaped up and sliced at the air, Donnie swung his Bo, Raph jabbed his sais and I threw my tessen. It didn't make much of a difference. Because no sooner had we begun to fight again then the animals swung at us with incredible strength. I felt like I had just been punched by the Hulk as I flew through the air and landed on top of the pile my brothers had formed.

"Okay… that could've gone better…" I grunted.

There was a loud hissing and I sat up. All of the Squirrelanoids were cornering us again. And this time, it looked like they really had us. They were advancing towards us when they suddenly stopped. They all raised their huge heads and started to sniff the air.

"Yoohoo! Glow heads!"

We and the creatures turned around. Mikey was back, and he was standing at the edge of the tunnel with a large bag of popcorn in his hand. He grabbed a handful and ate it, humming in satisfaction.

"Mmm… want some?"

The Squirrelanoids all screeched and immediately started sprinting towards him. Mikey yelped before turning and running back down the tunnel, the creatures following right behind him.

"Mikey has a plan!" Raph said, surprised.

I didn't hesitate to run after him, and I could hear the other right behind me. But by the time we reach the first set of split offs, they had already run off to far.

"Where'd they go?" Raph asked hurriedly.

I looked between all the tunnels in front of us. Which one could they have gone through? I was checking the one in front of me when I thought I felt something come from the one on the right. It felt like a breeze. I looked closer, and suddenly I could hear distant noises.

"You guys hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?"

"I don't hear anything."

I took a step into the tunnel, and suddenly I could hear a voice.

"He's this way!"

I began running down that hall without hesitating. I ran as fast as I could to try to keep up with Mikey's voice, trying not to lose it. A few turns later the noises were getting louder, to the point where I could even hear his footsteps as he ran. Then suddenly, I rounded the corner and saw three tall mutant squirrels standing at the end of the tunnel. I doubled back and slammed my back against the wall as I held my arm out to stop the others. They whispered what was wrong, but I stayed silent. Then I heard Mikey's voice again.

"Uh… come and get it…"

There was a soft plopping noise, followed by several loud splashes. I whipped my head around the corner and saw that all of the Squirrelanoids were now in what looked like a small pool. They appeared to be fighting over the bag of popcorn, which had apparently also been tossed into the water. I had enough time to look up and see Mikey reached up and turn a crank on the wall. There was the creaking of pipes and what sounded like a giant toilet being flushed as the water in the pool started to turn. Pretty soon it started spinning and sinking with the Squirrelanoids going down with it. Pretty soon they were below the surface.

"Booyahkasha!" Mikey said, punching the air as the turned around.

I saw it the moment I heard the water break. It snapped at Mikey and instantly wrapped itself around his waist and throat, yanking him backwards. I sprinted forward as fast as I could and reached out, grabbing his hand with both of mine. I dug my heels into the floor to stay planted, but the force just ended up dragging me as well. Mikey looked terrifyingly into my eyes as we both were suddenly underwater. But, just as my waist was submerged I felt something grabbed my feet and started pulling me up. I yanked the tentacle-like thing off of Mikey's neck as we were both dragged up above the surface. I turned to see that all of the others had formed a human rope and had grabbed us just in time. Raph was currently holding me by my ankles.

"I gotcha, guys," he gasped.

"We all do!"

Mikey grinned. Then suddenly a Squirrelanoid burst from the water, snarling as it reached for Mikey. I instantly grabbed one of my throwing knives and tossed it, hitting it right in its eye. It screeched as it fell back in the water, just as it all finally went down the drain. The others quickly started to pull us up. I was dragged onto the edge as I helped Mikey up and to his feet. We all stood up and looked down the deep pool, breathing heavily.

"Nice save guys," I breathed.

"Us? We wouldn't have gotten here at all if it wasn't for you," said Raph. "How were you able to hear so well?"

I shrugged. "I… I don't know. I just could."

Looking down one last time to make sure the pool was empty, we all turned and started to leave the area.

"The septic tanks down below should hold those creeps," said Leo, and Donnie nodded.

"At least until I can figure out a retro mutagen to turn 'em back."

"That's all well and good," I placed my hands behind my head. "But, personally, I think we've earned a day off. Don't you guys think?

"Heck yeah, dudette!" Mikey cheered. "Hey, you gotta try this new game Ness is letting me borrow. It's called Gang Beasts, and it super awesome! You want in Raph?"

Raph didn't say anything for a moment. Then he grinned and placed a hand on Mikey's shoulder.

"I'm glad you didn't get flushed, little brother."

Mikey smiled. "You and me both, bro."

* * *

"So, Y is to jump, right?"

"Yep! Right and left tigger to punch. Like… this!"

I gasped as Mikey's little yellow, Plato-like character punched my little purple character. I groaned irritably as I frantically started hitting the triggers. This game was fun, but boy, could Mikey beat me at it.

"You know, I hate to admit it," Raph suddenly piped up. "But, it looks like all of Mikey's comic book reading paid off."

"And that was pretty clever to realize that Squrrelanoids were attracted to the scent of food," Leo said, leaning over to pat Mikey's head.

"Actually, that was pretty obvious," Donnie interrupted. "I can't believe _I_ didn't think of it."

Mikey smirked. "Not everyone can be the brains of the outfit."

I chuckled. While he was distracted I quickly punched his character, knocking him out. I picked him up and carried him over to the large fire pit, and tossed him over. The large bell run and I cheered. Mikey whipped around and gasped, stunned at what had happened.

"Wha- No fair! You cheated!"

"Oh come on, like you wouldn't do the same!

"Maybe to Donnie, but never to you, dudette," Mikey adopted a brokenhearted expression. "Never to you…"

I rolled my eyes, smiling.

"My children," Sensei spoke up. "I understand you are celebrating your most recent victory, but have any of you considered what if one of those creatures manages to escape?"

"No worries, Sensei!" Raph jeered. "Those giant, nut-loving freaks are gone for good!"

He and Leo grinned as they bumbed fists. I nodded as I turned back to the TV. It was at that moment that I noticed Mikey's character wasn't moving. I turned to look at him, and he had a shifty look in his eyes.

"Um… actually, a bunch of sequel comics came out…" he reached behind him and suddenly pulled out a whole new comic book we hadn't seen yet. "The aliens come back!"

 _Are you fricking kidding me?_


	8. This Is Halloween

**Woo boy have I got shit to talk about!**

 **So, I've been busy as hell at my job cause a lot of people decided that they needed to take a vacation at the same time and I've been working for two weeks straight. No breaks... So! I've finally finished this chapter, which is also an original chapter which is why it took longer than it should've for a regular chapter. I've taken a lot of time to make sure this was good, and I hope you all like it.**

 **Also, I've started a new kind of project... I've created a Youtube channel. It's small, not a lot of videos just yet, and I'm slowly working on it. If you're interested in checking it out, my channel's called JessWantsToPlay. You guys have always supported me on here, and if you could support me there as well that would be just amazing. And if not, that's perfectly okay. :)**

 **Happy Reading!**

* * *

Ch. 3  
This Is Halloween

 **Mikey's P.O.V.**

Man, Gang Beasts is awesome! I'm so glad Ness let me barrow it. It's totally hilarious and I'm so good at it. None of the guys can hardly beat me! I've never seen Donnie get so mad over a video game before.

"I'm punching you! Why aren't you going down?"

"I'm just too strong for your Plato man, bro."

Donnie groaned angrily as he started pressing button furiously. Our characters started running around in the mini train station, knocking over orange pylons. I pressed Y and my orange chicken jumped over his purple business man. I started head-butting him, and a few seconds later he got knocked out.

"Hey!"

My character picked his up, dragged him over to the edge and dropped him onto the tracks. Donnie panicked as he started to jumped and grab the ledge, trying to get back up. But a second later there was a flash of light, and the train came and ran him right over.

"PLAYER TWO WINS!" I cheered. "BOOYAHKASHA!"

Donnie stared at the screen for a moment before throwing his head back in anger and tossing his controller.

"You know what? The graphics and mechanics of this game are all wacky and inaccurate. They're completely ridiculous!"

He folded his arms and frowned. I smirked as I slowly crawled closer towards him.

"You wanna play again?"

"…Yeah."

At once he snatched his controller back up and we started getting ready for the next round. Just then, I heard the turnstiles crank and footsteps. I turned to see Nia walked through, and she wasn't alone.

"Hey, you guys!"

I gasped. "Ness!"

I dropped my controller into Donnie's lap and leapt out of the pit, landing directly in front of them. I smiled wicked wide at the both of them.

"What up, girls!"

"Hey, little bro," Nia said, patting my head.

I gave her a smile, then looked over at Ness. "Hey you."

She giggled. "Yo, what's up?" she brought her hands from behind her back and she was holding two large paper bags. "Guess what I brought?"

I gasped. "Are those your mom's muffins…?"

She nodded. "Blueberry and cinnamon apple."

I squealed before grabbing a bag and speeding back to the beanbag chair. I flopped right down on it and opened the bag to see Rachel's glorious muffins. Taking a huge sniff, I picked one out and took a huge bite.

"Mmmm- _mmm_! Bros, you gotta try these!"

Using my free hand, I grabbed one and tossed it to Donnie. I grabbed two more and tossed them to Leo and Raph, who were sitting on the couch. They all took a bite, and immediately looked shocked.

"This is amazing!" Leo said.

"Thanks," said Ness. "It's my mom's special recipe."

"I'm gonna go give one to Splinter," Nia said.

Ness gave her the bag and Nia walked away toward the dojo. Ness sat down in the pit with us as we ate our muffins. There wasn't much talking. Just a lot of munching and sighing. Man, these muffins were good!

"What brings you over here anyway?" Raph asked, his mouth still full of muffin.

"Well, Nia asked me to come by today," Ness grinned. "She and I had something we wanted to ask you guys."

Leo swallowed. "Like what?"

"I'm glad you asked."

Leo and Raph both gasped. Nia had snuck up behind them and they hadn't even noticed. She giggled before leaping up and landing in the middle of the pit.

"As you all know, my band and I will be performing on Halloween night," she explained. "We were gonna walk in the parade and then immediately go to Central Park."

"Yeah, we know," said Raph. "So what?"

"So… there's going to be a lot of people there," said Ness. "A lot of people wearing costumes."

Nia and Ness were giving us all these weird looks. The guys and I all looked at each other. For once, I wasn't the only one who was clueless.

"What're you trying to say?" Donnie asked.

Nia gulped. "Well… I was wondering… if we all got you costumes…" she sighed. "Would you like to come and watch me perform?"

We all blinked and stared at her. Then I beamed.

"Dude, yes!" I leaped up and hugged her tightly. "That's awesome!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Totally!"

"Whoa, whoa, time out guys," Leo stood up. "Nia, are you sure about this? I mean, going on the surface with people is risky enough, but what if we get spotted by an enemy or something?"

"It'll be fine, Leo," said Nia. "Think. If you guys wear costumes no one will recognize you. And besides, it's Halloween! No one would probably take your appearances seriously even if you didn't have a costume on."

"She's right, dude," Raph stood up, looking surprisingly happy. "C'mon man, this could be our only chance to see Nia perform."

We all looked at Leo expectantly, and he stared back at us. He thought about it for a few moments, then sighed.

"Alright."

Immediately we all leapt up and cheered. Nia and I hugged each other tightly. This was gonna be so awesome!

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

To say that I was excited was a slight understatement. I was beyond pumped! My first performance was only days away, and I had gone from totally nervous to completely fired up in a manner of weeks. The guys and I already had our songs practiced to near perfection, and we knew what we wanted to wear. Which is where I had just come from.

"Hey Nia!" Vanessa called out, waving me over.

I jogged up to her. "Hey dude."

"Did you and Angus get your costumes already?"

"Yep. Check it out."

I held out the little store bag and opened it. Vanessa leaned over to get a closer look. She started giggling.

"Ooh, it's perfect!" she said happily. "And I've already got the paints I need to help you guys."

"Yeah, thanks again for helping us out with that."

"Oh, no problem," she turned to face the store beside us. "Now, let's see what we can find for the turtles."

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through the front doors. The place was surprisingly packed. People of all shapes and sizes were shuffling through the aisles, trying to grab everything from costumes to candy.

"This way!"

Vanessa continued to pulled me forward through the crowds of people. I mumbled apologies as I bumped into some of them. She continued to push forward without mercy until finally she stopped in front of an aisle. I looked up at the signed above it that read "80's costumes".

"Here we go."

Vanessa immediately started rifling through the racks of costumes. I wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, but boy, was she on a mission. She would search through one section of costumes before quietly swearing and moving onto the next one. I shook my head as I looked through the aisle myself. There were quite a few good-looking costumes in here, including a Modana outfit, a Greecer's getup, and a Ghostbusters jumpsuit. _Man, if I didn't have a costume I'd definitely go for one of these._

"Aha!"

I turned my head to see Vanessa digging through a section, a happy look on her face. The costume she pulled out made me grin.

"Really? That's what you've been worked up for?"

"It's for Mikey," she said. "He requested this especially. Here, look…"

She dug into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. She held it out to me.

"He made a list of costumes he thought would look good on the others. Look."

I took the list and looked down. There were several things on the paper, but only four of them were circled in sparkly, pink pen. If I had to guess, Vanessa was the one who circled them.

"These are actually pretty good ideas," I admitted.

"I know, right?" Vanessa held up the costume she had found. "And we've got one already. Now help me find the other three."

It took us about half an hour to find all the costumes we needed. Mostly because we were having too much fun messing around with the other things; putting on the masks, playing with the fake fangs and blood, ect. But, once we found and purchased them, we immediately headed to the lair.

"I'm so excited!" Vanessa skipped gleefully. "This night is gonna be so much fun!"

"I know," I said. "I can't wait."

At that moment, Vanessa's phone started ringing. It was her dad checking up on her, again. We both knew it would only take a moment for her to speak with him, so she walked a little down the sidewalk. I stood still, hands in my pockets, looking out into the street.

Suddenly, there was a loud smash. I whipped around and on instinct I reached behind for my hidden tessen, but it turned out to be just a broken window from the building next to me. Something small and black, probably what broke the window, started bouncing towards me. It was a hockey puck, and it spun at my feet before landing still on the concrete. I raised my eyebrow as I bent down and picked it up.

"What the…?"

I stopped talking as I heard doors bang open.

"Yeah yeah, I got it! Geez!"

I looked up to see a boy come out of the building with a hockey stick slung over his shoulder. He was tall, had dark hair, and was dressed in a mix of black and gray clothes. He spotted me and stopped moving. I raised my hand holding the puck.

"Looking for this?"

The boy grinned and continued to walk over until he was right in front of me.

"Hey thanks," he said, and I noticed he had a couple of teeth missing. "I didn't hit you, did I? I got a pretty hard swing."

"No no, you're good," I assured him.

The boy put the puck in his hoodie pocket. He stood there for a moment before grinning.

"Don't recognize yah," he said as he started to walk around me. "You new to this city?"

"Not exactly."

"Go to school here?"

"Homeschooled."

"Then what's a cute thing like you doin' on this part of town?"

I raised an eyebrow. This situation could either be going one way or the other. However, I wasn't getting any bad vibes from this guy, so I decided to play along.

"Oh, just wondering around, waiting to get hit by hockey pucks."

"Really? Aren't I the lucky one? What's your name, sweetheart?"

"You can call me Nia."

At that moment, I heard Vanessa calling me from the other end of the road. She said that she could see a short cut back to my place in the next alley over. I knew by that she meant she could see a manhole cover nearby.

"I need to go," I said. "Got stuff to do tonight."

"Figures," the boy slung his hockey stick over his shoulders. "Don't let the freaks scare yah too bad tonight."

I rolled my eyes and assured him it would take more than a few jerks in costume to scare me. He chuckled and turned to walk back into the building he came from. I was about to leave as well when I remembered.

"What's your name, anyway?"

He stopped walking and turned to look at me, a smirk on his still boyish face.

"Casey Jones."

* * *

 **Leo's P.O.V.**

This was it. Tonight was the night. Tonight was Nia's first performance, and the others and I were going onto the surface. Not only were we going to be going out into public, but we were going to be walking in the New York Halloween Parade. Millions of humans with millions of costumes. It would be a miracle if anyone recognized us, costumes or not.

The girls had given us our costumes a couple of days ago. We had been a little concerned when Mikey had given Vanessa a list of what to get, but we were surprised. Our costumes were actually pretty cool. We were all excited to wear them tonight.

It was Halloween. The others were getting ready with their own costumes. Angus and Vanessa had arrived over an hour before so that Vanessa could to his and Nia's sugarskull makeup. I was alone in my room, staring at the costume set laying on my bed.

"Whelp, show time."

After getting dressed up I left my room and walked out towards the living room. Only Donnie, Mikey, and Angus were sitting in the pit. As soon as I entered the room they all turned to look at me.

Angus was already dressed in his black slacks, jacket, a white button up and an orange necktie that looked like it was covered in orange glitter. His sugar skull makeup was pretty awesome. His whole face was pale white, with dark makeup shading to make his face look thinner than it actually was. His eyes were surrounded with black makeup, and orange shading around them that looked like dramatic eyeshadow. And to top it all off, he had a black bowler hat on top of his head with a glittery, orange ribbon wrapped around it.

Mikey was dressed up in a large Mario costume. He had large blue overalls, a red shirt, white gloves and a large red hat with an 'M' on it. He had asked for this costume specifically when Vanessa and Nia had gone shopping, and he looked absolutely thrilled about having it. He was leaping up and down all over the place, making loud 'Yah-hoo's!'

Donnie, per Mikey's request, was dressed up as Marty McFly from Back to the Future. He had a white checkered T-shirt, jeans, a denim jacket, orange leather vest, even similar shades. Donnie had been a bit cautious at first when he saw his costume, but the prospect of going out tonight was too great, so he agreed to it. However, he now seemed to be eyeing his costume with pleasure rather than distain.

"Hey Leo!" Angus put his arms out and looked down at himself. "What do yah think?"

"You look pretty awesome, actually."

"Yo, dude!" Mikey piped up as he jumped around. "How do you like the Indiana Jones get up? Pretty sweet, huh?"

Donnie nodded. "Yeah, you look pretty cool."

I grinned as I looked down at myself. Yes, I was dressed up as the one and only Indiana Jones. I had a tan button up, a brown leather jacket, large cargo pants, and a brown hat on my head. I even had a whip hanging from my hip.

"Yeah, I like it. Nia thinks it suits me."

"Hey, where's Raph?"

There was a bang and I turned around. The door to Raph's bedroom had opened, and there stood Raph himself. For some reason, he had kept his costume hidden from the rest of us so only he knew which one Vanessa got him. Why, I have no idea. But that didn't matter as we all could now see it for ourselves. Raph was dressed in what appeared to be black pants and a leather jacket. He had on black gloves and was wearing a pair on sunglasses, and the left lense had a mini red lightbulb glowing on it. It was obvious what he was supposed to be.

"Duuuuude! She got you the Terminator one?!" Mikey yelped. "Aww sweet!"

"Damn, yah look pretty bad ass," said Angus approvingly.

Raph lifted his shades, and smirked.

"Hell yeah, I do."

"Am I to presume you will be leaving soon, then?"

It was Splinter. He had walked out of the shadows and was standing right behind Raph. He gasped, stepping a few away from Sensei.

"We'll be leaving soon, Master Splinter," I told him. "As soon as Vanessa and Nia are done."

He nodded. "I'm sure I do not need to remind you of the precautions you must take. You may be disguised, but you must remain vigilante and not let your guard down too much."

I nodded. "We'll understand, Sensei. We'll be careful."

Splinter nodded. At that moment we heard a door open and slight laughter. We all turned to see Vanessa and Nia walking out of the bedroom hallway. Nia looked amazing. She was wearing what looked like a black corset with sleeves, a black flowy skirt, and white leggings. She had her hair up in a high, thick ponytail and her face was even paler than usual with her makeup. Her now very dark eyes were surrounded with blue, flower-like patterns, along with a blue flower coming down on her forehead. Vanessa seemed to have also added some tiny, blue diamond stickers on the corners of Nia's eyes to add affect.

Vanessa had bright yellow tank top dress and black leggings underneath. Her curly hair hung around her face, and she had a large, bright red bow pinned on the side of her head, the same shade as her lipstick. She also had a belt hanging slanted on her hips. It was black and metal, and on the metal pieces were what looked like the colorful ghosts from Pac-Man. I suddenly had an idea of who she was supposed to be. At that moment, Mikey whistled loudly and suddenly jumped up to her.

"Woo! Hello, Miss Pac-Man," he cheered. "Aren't you looking sweet tonight?"

Raph made a hurling sound behind me, but everyone ignored him. Vanessa giggled and leaned her arm on Mikey's shoulder.

"A pleasure to see you too, Mario."

"You guys are adorable," said Nia, then she looked at the rest of us. "You all ready?"

We all nodded.

"Alright, let's get going," she said, and she turned to Splinter. "We'll be back as soon as we can, Sensei!"

"See yah!"

"Bye!"

* * *

 **Raph's P.O.V.**

We all rode in Angus's truck to the parade- the guys and I were in the back while the girls rode inside. During the whole ride, we all felt a bit nervous about being so exposed, but that went away pretty quickly. We were all too busy looking at all the decorations, costumes and mayhem to worry about being out in the open. All the people that were out and about were too busy Trick or Treating or screwing around. Some of them even commented on our awesome costumes as we rode by. I didn't mind. Hell, this was amazing. I loved being in the open like this. It was so much less worrying than having to sneak around on rooftops and in dark alleys.

The plan was to meet Nia's and Angus's bandmates at Java Café and walk until we found the parade and melted in with it. Seemed simple enough. As soon as we reached the café we all got out of the car and Nia started looking around for her friends. Soon enough however, they found us.

"Nia! Baby!"

I raised my eyebrow and turned my head. There were three other guys- all who seemed to be Angus's age- who were all dressed in black slacks and had sugar skull paintings. That had to be them. The boy that had called Nia 'baby'- the one in a gray vest, fedora and purple painting on his skull face- waved at her. Nia gestured for us to follow as she ran up to the group. One of the other boys- who had a black fedora, vest and red paintings- grinned and said hi to Angus and Nia. The last boy- who wore black suspenders and had green paintings- merely stood there with his hands in his pockets.

"You guys look awesome!" Nia said enthusiastically.

"Ha! Who's talking," said the boy in the gray fedora. "You look so good, it's criminal! And Vanessa… doll, you're lookin' sweet as ever."

Nia and Vanessa laughed, and I frowned at him. For some reason I didn't like the way he was grinning at Nia.

"These must be your friends," said the one in the black fedora, who looked at all of us. "Hey, I'm Martin. This is my cousin Joseph, and our friend Ace."

Martin and Leo shook hands.

"I'm Leo," he said. "These are my brothers Raph, Donnie, and Mikey."

"Glad you guys could come," said Ace. "We're always lookin' for new friends to chill out with."

"Same here, dude," said Mikey proudly. "Chillin' is my specialty."

"Hey, there's the parade!"

Joseph pointing out towards the far end of the street, and we could see what looked like an endless crowd of people walking by.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Nia asked. "Let's go!"

We all cheered and hollered in excitement. This was it! We all turned and started walking across the street past a large group of people in costume. We were almost past when I accidently bumped into someone dressed in black.

"Oh, my bad-"

The person turned. They appeared to be dressed like a giant bat, of all things. They seemed to bare their teeth at me before turning and leaving with their group. I stood still as I stared after them. That guy… he snarled at me.

"Raph, c'mon!"

I turned to see the others were several feet ahead of me and were still walking. I shrugged and ran after them.

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

This was exciting! I've never been to a parade before. There were so many people I couldn't see where the paraded ended and begun. There were people dressed in all kinds of costumes. Pretty and scary, fancy and gross, people and animal. There were quite a few animal costumes actually.

We were passing up downtown at this point. The crowd just seemed to get bigger and bigger. People who weren't joining in remained on the sidewalks or perched up on their balconies, windows and fire escapes. There were several groups of bands out here too. We ran into a few who were performing at the park later, but also many who were here solely to play for the parade. And boy, did they liven the party up.

"Dudette, this is sweet!" Mikey said, jumping up and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Look at this! It's so awesome!"

"I know!" I hollered over the mix of people and music. "How're the others?"

"They're diggin' it! Look!"

I turned around to see the others looking in awe and amazement all around them. Donnie was examining and pointing out everything his genius eyes could see, Raph was smiling and laughing at the crazy and drunken antics of some older people around us, and Leo was in front, keeping his head high but admiring everything in surprise all the same.

"Aren't you glad I talked you into making them come?" Vanessa asked loudly.

I nodded. "Of course!"

"Your friends seem pretty cool, Nia," Joseph suddenly popped out of nowhere. "They're really chill."

"They're more like brothers, actually. But yeah, they're really great."

"Yeah. Just look at their faces. They look like they've never partied like this before."

He laughed. I rolled my eyes. _You have no idea._

A large street band ahead of us started playing a new song. This time, everyone in the crowd started to cheer and laugh as it played. Vanessa gasped.

"I know this song!"

Suddenly, I was being pushed by my own group forward closer towards the band. People were raising their hands up in the air. Suddenly, Joseph ran forward and started singing.

 _Boys and girls of every age  
_ _Wouldn't you like to see something strange?_

Ace joined Joseph, arm in arm.

 _Come with us and you will see,  
_ _This, our town of Halloween_

 _ **This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
**_ _ **Pumpkins scream in the dead of night  
**_ _ **This is Halloween, everybody, make a scene  
**_ _ **Trick or treat, 'til the neighbors gonna die of fright**_

 _ **It's our town, everybody scream  
**_ _ **In our town of Halloween**_

I stared in awe as the crowd around us burst into sudden music. How often does that happen? Suddenly, Joseph grabbed my arm and pulled me forward as he continued to sing.

 _I am the one hiding under your bed,  
_ _Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red_

Then Martin was suddenly at my other side.

 _I am the one hiding under your stairs  
_ _Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair_

 _ **This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
**_ _ **Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!  
**_ _ **In this town we call home  
**_ _ **Everyone hail to the pumpkin song**_

 _In this town, don't we love it now?  
_ _Everyone's waiting for the next surprise!_

' _ **Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can  
**_ _ **Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll SCREAM!**_

 _This is Halloween!  
_ _Red 'n' black, and slightly green  
_ _Aren't you scared?_

To my surprise Vanessa skipped up, Mikey trailing behind her, and she sang,

 _Well, that's just fine  
_ _Say it once, say it twice  
_ _Take a chance and roll the dice  
_ _Ride with the moon in the dead of night_

 _ **Everybody scream, everybody scream!  
**_ _ **In our town of Halloween!**_

Angus leapt forward, voice as loud as everyone else's.

 _I am the clown with the tear-away face  
_ _Here in a flash and gone without a trace  
_

 _I am the "who" when you call "Who's there?"  
_ _I am the wind blowing through your hair_

 _I am the shadow of the moon at night  
_ _Filling your dreams to the brim with fright_

 _ **This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
**_ _ **Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!**_

Vanessa and Mikey were both beside me, their arms draped around my shoulders. They both grinned at me. I hesitated for a moment before laughing and joining in with them.

 _Tender lumplings everywhere  
_ _Life's no fun without a good scare  
_ _That's our job, but we're not mean  
_ _In our town of Halloween_

 _In this town, don't we love it now?  
_ _Everybody's waiting for the next surprise_

 _ **Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back  
**_ _ **And scream like a banshee  
**_ _ **Make you jump out of your skin!  
**_ _ **This is Halloween, everybody scream**_

 _ **Won't yah please make way for a very special guy  
**_ _ **Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin patch  
**_ _ **Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!  
**_

 _ **This is Halloween, this is Halloween  
**_ _ **Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!**_

 _ **In this town, we call home  
**_ _ **Everyone hail to the pumpkin song**_

As the music continued I turned my head to look at the others. My friends and the turtles were all looking esthetic at what was going on, and it seemed to pump them up. Raph was the only one not moving as much as everyone else. I giggled and playfully bumped into him.

"What's the matter, big guy? Feeling a bit shy now?"

Raph stuttered for a moment before pushing me back.

"As if! I'm just sick of being surrounded by you nerds."

I snorted. "Alright then. I better see you having a blast at the park though."

I trotted forward, leaving Raph to stare at me. I almost didn't notice that my face felt hot the entire time I was talking to him.

2 hours later and it was time to head to Central Park for the after party. Our group managed to break away from the mob of crazy New Yorkers and start heading there. Everyone seemed to be high on adrenalin at this point. Hell, I can't remember the last time I saw Donnie looking so gleeful like this, and Raph hadn't said one disheartening comment all night.

As we arrived at the park the music was blaring and people were shouting. There was a huge, impressive stage in the middle of the grassy field, which was much more lit than the last time I had been to the park. There were giant speakers, and several sets of instruments on the center stage. Vanessa and Mikey were yelping with glee as they leapt into a crowd of dancing people, and we quickly followed closely after them. All except Leo and Donnie, who looked as though they had no idea what to do.

"Guys, c'mon!" I called out. "The fun's just started!"

They both looked at each other for a moment, then they both grinned and followed me into the crowd. Suddenly, a guy dressed in a red suit and devil horns walked on stage and grabbed a mic.

"How's everyone doin' tonight!"

Oddly, his thick Brooklyn accent seemed to ruin the devil vibe he had going on. Nonetheless, everyone cheered excitedly at his words.

"Alright, we're about to get this concert started! You guys ready?!"

More cheers erupted.

"Alright then! Give it up for our first group… Lady Relics!"

He put down the mic and clapped before disappearing off stage as Lady Relics climbed up. The band was decked out in what can only be described as getups from Avril Lavine's earlier days. They introduced themselves, talked about the song they were going to play, and immediately started playing. They certainly weren't bad, but they were nothing compared to Brendon Urie in my opinion.

It was probably an hour later and we were all dancing at different ends of the garden. Leo and Raph had disappeared into a crowd of stragglers earlier, Donnie had left to get punch but never came back, Vanessa and Mikey were dancing only a few yards away from me, and Angus was standing close to the stage. He had offered to remain close so as to call me and the others up when it was our time to perform. I was dancing by myself for the most part, but there were so many people around me and I was having so much fun that I hardly noticed.

At that moment I felt someone bump against me. I turned to apologize, but saw that they were already walking away. They appeared to be dressed as a snow leopard, and a pretty one at that. I stared after them. For some reason, alarm bells started going off in my head. I turned back and started to dance some more, but felt distracted. The feeling of several eyes on me was apparent as I began to realize that several people around me started moving away, all of whom appeared to be dressed as some sort of animal. The thing is, their costumes looked rather convincing.

"What's wrong?"

Angus stared at me as I tried to catch my breath in front of him. I had just run across the garden in front of the stage to catch up to him.

"Angus, when do we go on?"

"What? Like, in 10 minutes. Why?"

"That's fine. Look, I need you to stall for time. I have to go check something."

"What? What's wrong?" his face suddenly fell and he asked in a hushed voice, "Is it the Foot? Are the Kranng here?"

"I don't know!" I snapped. "Please Angus, I don't wanna miss this but I will if I have to! Just try to buy us some time, and if I'm not here go on without me!"

Angus bit his lip, looking very distressed. He sighed, and gave a small nod.

"I'll be back in 10, I promise."

I turned and ran around, looking everywhere for my brothers. I couldn't find Mikey anywhere. No doubt he and Vanessa where too busy dancing. Thankfully, I managed to find Leo and Donnie. They were stuck in the middle of a crowd, standing behind Raph, who was apparently in the middle of an arm wrestling match with a guy dressed as Captain America. I sprinted towards them just as Raph managed to beat the guy, and the people around him went crazy. The Captain wasn't too happy though.

"3 out of 5!" he demanded.

"Hey, if you're willing to lose more, I've got no problem with that!" Raph smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Sorry to break up this comparison of testosterone levels," I piped up as I grabbed Raph's shoulders. "But these three need to leave. Like, now."

I pulled him out of the chair and away from the crowd without another word. Raph yelped and Donnie and Leo followed quickly behind me, asking me what I was doing.

"Nia, c'mon!" Raph whined. "I was kicking that guy's ass! Let me go back!"

"Now's not the time." I turned to look at them all. "Haven't you guys been noticing something weird about some of these costumes?"

All three looked at each other.

"No… why?"

"It's all these animal costumes," I whispered. "They look way to realistic."

"Like they're actual animals?"

"More like mutants."

Donnie and Leo looked at each other with confusion and concern. But I noticed that Raph was looking at the ground, a thoughtful look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked up at me. "It's just… earlier before we got to the parade, I bumped into someone crossing the street. They were dressed up like a bat I think. I tried to apologize, but… they growled at me."

Leo suddenly put a hand on Raph's shoulder and whispered, "Look." We all turned our heads in the direction he was looking, and saw a dark figure amongst the crowd. It did appear to be someone dressed up as a giant bat, and they were very convincing. The person looking around them for a second before squeezing between two people and started to run off towards the gardens exit.

"Let's move," said Leo. "But keep your guards up."

* * *

 **Mikey's P.O.V.**

"Mikey!"

I whipped around at the sound of my name. Angus was running towards me, hand on his head to keep his hat from flying off. He skidded to a halt in front of me, panting.

"I… need your help…"

"Dude, I'm kinda busy…" I whispered, nodding my head at Vanessa, who stared at us.

"This is important!" Angus hissed. "Nia and your brothers left!"

"What?! But you guys are about to go on-"

"I know! Look, somethin' fishy was goin' on and they had to go check it out. Nia asked to buy us some time, but I don't know what to do! I need your help, man."

I thought about everything that Angus had just said and began to think. A distraction, huh? I looked all around, thinking of ways to create a big enough scene to buy Nia's buds some time. My eyes fell on the huge speakers on stage, which were guarded by a stage tech. As I looked around more I could see a group of teens around my age skateboarding on the sidewalk. I smirked. The guys wanted a distraction? I'd give them one.

"I got an idea," I said. "Do you think you could distract the tech guy while I hookup my phone to those speakers?"

Angus looked on stage at the tech, then at me. "I can try."

"Move dude, move!"

Angus nodded and ran off.

I grabbed Vanessa's hand and we both headed to the left of the stage. We subtly tiptoed up the steps and remained hidden behind the speaker. The tech was looking at a clipboard in his hand, not moving at all. Suddenly, Angus came up from the other side, panting loudly.

"Hey…" he gasped. "There's, ah… a band that couldn't make it tonight. They were supposed to go on before Inside Elegance."

"What?!" the tech snapped, flipping through his notepad. "It doesn't say that on here! Did they just leave?"

"Yeah. Um… they said they had better things to do."

"That can't be right!"

The tech swore loudly before stomping off in the direction Angus came from. He looked back at us and gestured for me to come up. I crawled up until I was at the back of the speaker. It was covered with so many wires and buttons, but I was finally able to spot the aux cord. I took it and plugged it into my T-Phone. I turned to look at Vanessa.

"Any requests?"

Vanessa paused for a moment, then gasped as she pulled me in close and whispered into my ear. I grinned.

"The lady's got taste!"

I typed in the song title and pressed play.

 _Tonight, I'm gonna have myself  
_ _A real good time  
_ _I feel alive, and the world I'll turn  
_ _Inside out- yeah_

I stepped out into the stage and looked out onto the grass. People had turned and looked confused at the sudden change in music. I looked out towards the teens with the skateboards and whistled out to them. They all turned, and I gestured for them to come to me. They all ran out to me,

 _And floating around in ecstasy  
_ _So don't stop me now  
_ _Don't stop me  
_ ' _Cause I'm having a good time- having a good time_

I yelled "Booyakasha!" as I jumped up off the stage and landed down on the skateboard. People gasped as I started rolling past them on the sidewalks. I did a couple of kickflips before leaping up and grinding along the tops of benches and tables. I could feel nearly everyone's eyes on me, and I loved it!

 _I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky  
_ _Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity  
_ _I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva  
_ _I'm gonna go go go  
_ _There's no stopping me_

 _I'm burnin' through the sky yeah  
_ _Two hundred degrees  
_ _That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
_ _I'm trav'ling at the speed of light  
_ _I wanna make a supersonic man out of you_

I glanced around me and saw what looked like a couple of security guards suddenly appear around the corner of the stage. I grinned as I turned forward and continued forward even faster. I could hear people around me shouting and cheering.

 _Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time  
_ _I'm having a ball  
_ _Don't stop me now  
_ _If you wanna have a good time just give me a call  
_ _Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)  
_ _Don't stop me now (Yes I'm havin' a good time)  
_ _I don't want to stop at all_

 _Yeah, I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars  
_ _On a collision course  
_ _I am a satellite I'm out of control  
_ _I'm a sex machine ready to reload  
_ _Like an atom bomb about to  
_ _Oh oh oh oh oh explode_

I've been going in circles, leading the security guards on a wild goose chase. People around me were laughing and clapping, some were even holding their hands out to high five me as I went by. Obviously, I high fived them back.

I was reaching the center of the park when I caught sight of Angus and Vanessa again. I smirked as I immediately headed towards them on the skateboard. As I reached them I leaned to the side and I started circling around them. Angus was laughing his head off as Vanessa beamed at me. I gulped hard, and I leaned forward and kissed Vanessa's cheek before circling off into another direction. I thought I heard her giggle before I left.

 _I'm burnin' through the sky yea  
_ _Two hundred degrees  
_ _That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
_ _I'm trav'ling at the speed of light  
_ _I wanna make a supersonic woman of you_

I could hear footsteps and shouts behind me that told me the security guys had caught up with me again. I looked around and saw a huge crowd on the other side of the park on the sidewalk. I turned, swerving past people and jumping over more benches as I reached them. As soon as I did they all made a gap for me to pass through, and closed it off as the security came up.

 _Don't stop me, don't stop me  
_ _Don't stop me, hey hey hey  
_ _Don't stop me, don't stop me  
_ _Ooh ooh ooh, I like it  
_ _Don't stop me, don't stop me  
_ _Have a good time, good time  
_ _Don't stop me, don't stop me ah  
_ _Oh yeah  
_ _Alright_

 _Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky  
_ _Two hundred degrees  
_ _That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
_ _I'm trav'ling at the speed of light  
_ _I wanna make a supersonic man out of you_

 _Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time  
_ _I'm having a ball  
_ _Don't stop me now  
_ _If you wanna have a good time (wooh)  
_ _Just give me a call (alright)  
_ _Don't stop me now ('cause I'm having a good time- yeah yeah)  
_ _Don't stop me now (yes I'm havin' a good time)  
_ _I don't want to stop at all_

I looked down at my T-Phone and saw that only a couple of minutes passed. I knew Nia was going to need more time than that.

"Good thing I turned on my playlist."

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

We were staying as quiet as we possibly could. We moved smoothly and swiftly across the rooftops and staying hidden in the shadows as we followed the bat, who was running ahead of us. He made several sharp turns and circles, as though trying to make sure that anyone who might be following him would be thrown off. After a few more buildings he jumped over another ledge, and this time he remained in the air as his wings suddenly opened and carried him across even faster.

"Well, that's one theory confirmed," Donnie hissed.

We continued to follow him for several more blocks before he started to slow down. Finally, he stopped on the roof of a shorter apartment complex. We all immediately stopped and knelt over the edge to observe. The bat figure was no longer alone. There were several other animal mutants there as well. I saw the snow leopard that had bumped into me earlier, a fox, a jaguar, and a hawk of all things. They were all huddled close on the roof of the building. I supposed they were talking but they were too far to hear, even for me. All I could make out where whispers. At that moment, I took one quick look at that building and I froze.

"Guys, that's Angus's apartment building," I whispered.

They all stared at me and at each other before turning to look down at the building. I stared down, feeling worried. I couldn't imagine that they were here to break into Angus's home. But still, I had a terrible feeling in my gut.

The mutants started to move, and we froze as we kept our attention on them. The bat and the hawk flew off the roof and lowered down a few levels. The leopard and the jaguar stood on particular ends on the roof, as though they were keeping guard. The fox crawled over the edge and started to slowly and carefully climb down, using the edges of windows and the fire escapes to help him out. He suddenly stopped at a center window three rows down.

"That's his apartment…" I hissed, my voice shaking.

I heard the others unsheathe their weapons, ready for whatever came next. I was frozen in fear, staring at the fox as he managed to open the window and crawled inside. Seconds passed, and nothing happened. No noises or anything. Then, the fox appeared on the ledge of the window, holding something in his arms. He held it out and the hawk flew forward and took the object. And just like that, everything seemed to speed back up. The fox shut the window and the mutants all began running and flying away.

"What was that about?"

"Did anyone see what they took?" Leo asked.

"No, it was too small," said Donnie.

"Nia, what room does that window lead to?"

"Um…"

I looked down at the window, which was left as though it had been untouched. This was the back of the building, and I knew Angus's parents slept towards the front, and he was next to them. So that room was probably…

I felt my heart sink so deep into the pit of my stomach I was sure it wouldn't come back. I felt close to crying as I stared at the others. They stared at me with fear in their eyes as we all cried in unison.

" _Paige!_ "

It was hard to remain stealthy as we quickly followed behind the group of mutants. My mind was racing and adrenaline was rushing through me, and everything else was simply a blur. If I had left Donnie, Raph and Leo behind I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

We chased after them for what felt like only a few minutes before they landed at what looked like an abandoned warehouse. The jaguar and the leopard opened what looked like a metal trap door on the roof that was hidden in the shadow of an AC vent. They, the fox, and the bat all jumped down the hole quickly, as though trying to hurry. But, I noticed the hawk floated down gently, holding the object in his hands close to him, and he quietly shut the trap door.

"Stealth mode," Leo hissed at us. "If they do have Paige we need to be very careful. We don't know what they're planning."

The other two nodded, but I remained focused on the building. _Please, don't let it be Paige…_

We all ran up and leapt up into the air, landing expertly on the edge of the roof. We all slowly shuffled to the trap door as to not make a sound. Donnie knelt down and gently grabbed the trap door and pulled it open. He didn't say anything, but gave us a thumbs up. He went inside, then Raph, then Leo and then me. We stepped down onto metal support beams that were right below us and I gently closed the door. As we tiptoed along the beams I looked down below me.

The building looked as if it were abandoned for years. It was dirty, several windows were broken or boarded up, and there were many suspiciously dark stains on the concrete floor below. But still, it was obvious that some things had been moved, some additional furniture had been placed, and an attempt at cleaning had been made. It was as if someone had been attempting to make this building fit for living conditions. And as I looked down I saw that I was right. Below me were the animals that we had been chasing, along with many others. From this height I could also make out an anthropometric snake, two wolves, a cheetah, possibly a Bobcat, a dog, about three raccoons, and a tall, snow white owl…

"Is that… Athena?" Donnie whispered.

For a moment I had completely forgotten about everything that had happened. Why was Athena here? How was she involved with these other mutants? Were they even mutants? Why were they in Angus's apartment.

"How did it go?" I heard Athena ask distantly.

"Wasn't too hard," the fox said in a deep, smooth voice. "Once Frostbyte shut down their security alarms it was an easy in-n-out."

Athena nodded. She then walked towards the hawk, who was still holding the object in his arms. She stared down at it, then pulled back a piece of what looked like a blanket. I was at an angle where I could finally see what was in his arms. A small, light-haired, two-month old baby in a purple onesie.

"Nia, no!"

Leo had to grab both of my arms painfully hard in order to keep me from leaping forward towards the group. Good thing he did, because the second I realized that they had taken Paige I was in protective panic mode. I thought only of what they might do to her and what I could do to stop it.

Leo held me close to keep me from moving as we continued to observe the group below us. I could see a smile on Athena's beak as she stroked the baby's cheek. Paige was either too sleepy to care or not afraid at all, because she wasn't crying or even squirming. Then Athena took Paige from the hawk, cradling her in her arms as she went to sit on a large, red chair by an old wooden table.

"Did you remember to leave the note?"

The fox nodded. "Yes. I left it in her crib."

"How long do you think it'll be before the aliens are gone?" asked the snow leopard in a toned female voice.

"Once they realize she's gone they'll move to another target," said Athena as she stroked Paige's hair. "Probably another old cat lady or something. But, she'll be fine."

"Aliens?" Raph whispered. "Do you think they're talking about the Kraang?"

Before any of us could say anything Athena started speaking again.

"Can you imagine how hard it must be to take care of a baby?" she held Paige up to look directly at her. "They're such small, weak little things. And yet, we do everything we can to protect them. Know why? Because they have the opportunity to contribute something good to this world. This little girl could find the cure for cancer, bring world peace, become the first female president…"

Paige seemed to curiously raise her hand to poke at Athena's beak. Athena smiled coldly as she grabbed the baby's little hand.

"Or become a useful ally in any organization. Who knows?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I snatched my arms out of Leo's grasp and leapt down, summersaulting until I landed on my feet on the ground. I looked up to see the group of mutants had turned around at the noise, looking surprised. I pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground. I vanished and then quickly appeared behind Athena. I went to take Paige from her, but something grabbed me from behind and suddenly threw me down on top of the table hard. I opened my eyes to see the snake was towering over me, hissing as she pinned me down by the neck. She wasn't choking me, just holding tight enough to keep me there. Still, the sight was unnerving.

"Lavinia?" I heard Athena call out. "Gosh, I didn't expect you to turn up like this."

I heard several jumps and the sounds of unsheathed weapons. I turned my head as best I could, and saw the other three had leapt down with their weapons out.

"And I see you brought your brothers. Lovely."

"Let her go, Athena," Leo ordered. "Let her and Paige go!"

The snake hissed a little closer to my face, and I glared at her. I heard footsteps and suddenly the fox was hunched over me, too. His eyes were a bright, unnatural shade of orange, and they were like daggers.

"This is the girl you're obsessed with?"

I couldn't see who he was talking to, but something in my head told me it was probably Athena. The snake's grip suddenly got tighter on my neck.

"Slicilia, let her up." Athena ordered.

The snake nodded, and finally released me. I snapped up and took several steps back until I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned and it was Athena. Without hesitation, she held Paige up to me. I quickly took her in my arms and held her close to my chest. She didn't appear to be hurt. In fact, she smiled as she gestured her hands up at my face, probably fascinated with my makeup. I glared menacingly at Athena as I slowly backed up to stand next to the others, who still had their weapons out.

"I don't know how you found us or what you were planning to do, but I can assure you this wasn't necessary," Athena said, arms folded. "We had everything under control."

"Under control?!" Raph snapped. "You kidnapped a baby! What's the matter with you?"

"We didn't kidnap her, we saved her!" insisted the snow leopard- I think the fox said her name was Frostbyte.

We stared at her in surprise. Paige made gurgling sounds as she tugged on my corset.

"You call snatching a baby from her home in the middle of the night saving?" Leo asked angrily. "And what were you even saving her from?"

The whole group looked at each other in silence. Athena sighed and sat down in the chair by the table. She looked irritable.

"You've probably noticed that the Kraang have returned."

"You know about that?"

"Of course I do," she stated. "Didn't really take them out last time, did you? Well, they've been bringing more mutagen back from their home, and they have been using it on people. But, not random people in the street anymore. No… they've been targeting specific homes and even families. Those amber alerts that have been constantly going off for months? I can promise you about 90 percent of those are the Kraang."

I stared at Athena. I can remember what it was like the first time I ever met her. Nearly everything she said to me would set off some odd alarm bells in my head, signaling that she was lying. The bells were silent now.

Leo stared. "They've been kidnapping people?"

"Even kids?" Donnie gasped.

"Not yet," Athena corrected. "They tend to take adults since they're stronger. But… they have been targeting places that has teens who are close to the legal age. Foster homes, orphanages, boarding schools… anyone who's at least 16 is in danger there."

Leo hesitantly lowered his katanas, but his grip remained firm.

"You're saying that's why you took Paige? The Kraang were coming for her?"

"But you just said that they were targeting teenagers," I said. "Why would they take her?"

"The Kraang might be dull, but they're thorough. If their experiments on adults are failing, they won't hesitate to test on younger subjects."

"How do you know all of this?" Donnie asked suspiciously.

"We are against the Kraang, turtles," snapped the bat. "We know where nearly all of their hideouts in the city are. We keep tabs on them and their targets."

"And if they try attacking a place with children, we intervene," said the hawk.

I swallowed. "And you bring them home… right?"

"If they wish to be."

I stared at Athena's dark smile.

"What? Where do you think my friends here came from?"

She stood up from her chair and stepped towards me. The group of mutants split apart as she walked between them, gesturing to each of them.

"The fox is Rogue. He was kicked out of his own house after his folks caught him smoking pot. He's the first I met and the first to be a part of my army. He's sort of become a second in command here. The bat and hawk are Slaze and Blade. They went to the same boys boarding school upstate, and boy were they happy for an excuse to get out. The cheetah and snake, Destructa and Slicilia. Both came from the same all girls orphanage. Bobcat is Whacker, she was almost kidnapped by the Kraang. She was so happy when we helped she begged us to take her in. Snow leopard, we call her Frostbyte. She's an amazing hacker, got sent to juvie 4 times already. Oh, and the three raccoons? They're the Trinity's. Triplets, all left at the same orphanage. The jaguar, Knockout, actually found us after escaping juvie himself. One of the best fighters in the city. The dog, Domino, he's one of the best drivers in the city. Used to compete in underground racing. And finally, the two wolves are Justice and Luna. Twins as well. Shifted from foster home to foster home, always given to parents only interesting in mooching money off the government. They decided to stick around after we saved Luna from being kidnapped.

Athena turned her back to us to look at her group of mutants. I could feel the pride radiating off of her.

"They're all a part of my team. My little army, if you will," she turned to look at me. "And we have only two purposes; rebel against the Kraang until they're gone, and to continue to grow."

"Grow?"

"We want to show the world that there is a better way than living the simple, mundane life of a human. There's a better way to survive! There's a better way to thrive!"

I held Paige closer to my chest. This girl was starting to sound crazy. And yet, something compelled me to listen to her. I blinked and suddenly Athena was right up in front of me.

"This is what I told you before, Lavinia," she said in a hushed voice. "When I told you that you were meant for something greater- we all are. My offer still stands, and it's waiting for you."

There was silence, broken only by the wind blowing through the broken windows. Athena backed up and walked towards her group of mutants.

"You may return her if you wish," she said. "She should be safe now. When the Kraang see that she is gone, they'll move onto their next target. But, be careful."

It was clear that it was time for us to leave, and soon. I could see the other three putting away their weapons and starting to back away. I turned and asked Donnie to hold Paige. He looked surprised, but complied. I turned and walked up to Athena.

"I understand why you did this, but it still wasn't right," I told her. "You knew… you knew that she was my friend's sister, and you know that my brothers and I are fighting the Kraang. You could have easily told us and we would've been able to handle it. If what you're saying is true, I'll be grateful, but don't do it again. And if it isn't true… I swear I'll find out what you're up to."

The other mutants all stared at me, then at Athena, then back to me. They looked surprised that I would speak in such a way to her. Athena stood still for a second. She suddenly turned her head almost completely around to look at me, making me flinch.

"That's what I love about you Nia, you're so determined. You must know the truth no matter what, even if it's staring you in the face."

* * *

 **Raph's P.O.V.**

We ran across the rooftops, back towards Central Park. None of us spoke much. Nia was the quietest out of all of us, her gaze held forward as she took the lead. Donnie was running slower and more carefully since he was carrying Paige. I was surprised at the fact that she hadn't cried not one time this entire night. If I turned to look I'd probably see her asleep in Donnie's arms.

"Do you think what Athena said was telling the truth?" Leo asked suddenly. "About why they took Paige?"

"It seemed a little fishy, but I can't see why else she would take her," said Donnie. "She's barley 2 months old. She wouldn't be much use to her or her army."

"What do you think Nia?"

I wanted to hear here opinion on this. She was the one who was good at seeing when people were lying through their teeth after all. She didn't answer me though.

We leapt onto the final rooftop that was right next to Angus's apartment. But before we could move forward Nia suddenly gasped and turned to push us to the ground, flat on our shells. I opened my mouth to retort but she then clasped her hands over mine and Leo's mouths.

"Nia, what-"

"Shush!" she hissed at Donnie. "And get down!"

Donnie quickly knelt down next to us, holding Paige a little closer to his chest. Nia released her hands from us and slowly crawled over to the edge of the building. She just barley peeked her head up over the ledge, then quickly brought it back down. She looked back at us and gestured over her shoulder, mouthing the word, "Kraang."

None of us made a sound. Leo and I slowly got up and went to crawl over to Nia. Donnie started to move too, but I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head, pointing at Paige. He nodded. Leo and I peeked our heads over the ledge. There was a large group of Kraang droids on the apartment building. Several were on the roof, and a few were hanging on cords by the window that lead to Paige's nursery. Just then, two more droids came out of the window, thankfully empty handed. They all made gestures at each other before they all returned to the roof, then appeared to be climbing up an invisible ladder.

"Stealth ship," Leo whispered.

He was right. As we continued to look I noticed that the texture of the sky above the droids didn't appear correct. Once the last droid was in the ship, I saw a hatch close and heard a loud whoosh as the ship flew away. We all stood up, staring at the sky.

"She was telling the truth."

It was Nia. I turned to look at her and saw that she had a slightly shameful look on her face. She must be feeling a bit guilty over what she said to Athena right before we left. Then, at that moment, she gasped. She snatched her phone out and looked down at the screen.

"We've been out for almost 40 minutes!" she gasped. "They're waiting for… I'm supposed to…"

"Go," I told her. "You and Leo head back to the park. Donnie and I will stay and make sure Paige gets back in safe. We'll meet you guys back there."

"But, I should-"

"Nia, Raph's right," said Leo. "Look at all that you've done tonight. You deserve this."

She bit her lip for a second. Then nodded. She ran over to Donnie and gave Paige a kiss on her head.

"Make sure she's safe before you leave," she ordered.

Donnie nodded. Then Nia suddenly ran over to me and hugged me tightly, whispering a soft thank you to me. I could've sworn she kissed my cheek as she let go and ran off, but it was so quick that I couldn't tell. I watched her and Leo sprint as fast as they could over the buildings and down into an alleyway.

"C'mon, let's get her inside," said Donnie.

I nodded.

It took us a minute to safely get Paige over to her window, but it was much easier with the fire escape. I held the window opened and stayed guard outside while Donnie went in to put Paige back. Then, from inside, I could hear him whispering to her.

"No no, let go… there, okay…"

Curious, I turned my head to look inside just in time to see Donnie lowering Paige into her crib. I watched as he made sure she was safe and secure, and then took a tiny blanket from inside the crib and placed it over her. I heard cute gurgles coming from inside the crib. Donnie leaned up and suddenly stopped moving. He was staring down into the crib, his eyes wide. Then he smiled one of the most peaceful smiles I had ever seen. It suddenly occurred to me that this was our first time seeing Paige in person, and not in picture form

I quickly turned my head as I heard footsteps. Donnie walked out of the window and quickly shut it, the same peaceful look on his face.

"Found their note."

He lifted his hand and was holding a small, folded piece of paper. I took it and opened it up.

 _Sir and ma'am, do not attempt to call the authorities. They'll be unable to help you. Your daughter was in danger and needed to be taken and hidden away for a short time. Rest assured, we will return her when the threat has past. Please remain calm and you will see your daughter again._

 _-A_

"That's comforting," I muttered, crumpling the paper and tossing it over my shoulder.

"We better get going," said Donnie.

I nodded. We both climbed up to the top of the roof, and started running across buildings from there. We were quite for a moment, but it was really an awkward kind of quiet.

"What took you so long in here?" I asked him.

Donnie didn't say anything at first. He just kind of shrugged, looking embarrassed.

"N-nothing, it's just…" he chuckled. "She wouldn't let go of my hand is all. Had to wait until she fell asleep."

I felt an unfamiliar warmth in my heart at the sound of that. Maybe this is just how people feel when they're around babies. I grinned at Donnie as we continued to run.

It took us about 5 minutes and we were back at the entrance of Central Park. The street was crowded and messy, and a few people were walking into the park. We both ran in and could see the stage across the field, surrounded by dancing and observing people. It was too far away to see who was on stage, but we could hear the distant music.

"C'mon!"

We both started running towards the crowd, closer to the stage. The music and the instruments were getting louder and louder, along with the voices of the crowd. It was hard to tell who was on stage from here. As we got closer I saw the people on stage were wearing black and white formal wear, and had brightly colored faces. It was them. They must have already started before we made it.

I don't know why, but I expected Nia's band to be playing something more upbeat and hyped. I guess that's usually the case when it comes to a band's first performance in movies. But this song was slow, calming, yet it seemed to draw me in the same way an upbeat song would. I had just managed to spot Nia in the center of the stage, holding onto the mic, when I could finally hear her voice carry out.

 _I'll wake you up with some  
_ _Breakfast in bed  
_ _I'll bring you coffee with  
_ _A kiss on your head_

 _And I'll take the kids to school  
_ _Wave them goodbye  
_ _And I'll thank my lucky stars  
_ _For that night_

Her eyes were closes as she sang softly into the mic. Her voice was surprisingly smooth, and yet it seemed to carry throughout the entire park. I noticed most, if not all, of the people around the stage were paying full attention to the stage. Some had even pulled out lighters and turned on their phone lights to raise them up in the air.

 _When you looked over your shoulder  
_ _For a minute, I forget that I'm older  
_ _I wanna dance with you right now  
_ _Oh, and you look as beautiful as ever_

 _And I swear that everyday you'll get better  
_ _You make me feel this way somehow_

Her eyes opened, and they sparkled as her voice got louder, still remaining smooth.

 _I'm so in love with you  
_ _And I hope you know  
_ _Darling your love is more than  
_ _Worth its weight in gold_

 _We've come so far, my dear  
_ _Look how we've grown  
_ _And I wanna stay with you  
_ _Until we're gray and old_

 _Just say you won't let go  
_ _Just say you won't let go_

More lights were up in the air now, slowly waving back and forth. I wanted to look to see how Donnie was reacting to the show, but I just couldn't seem to take my eyes off of Nia.

 _I wanna live with you  
_ _Even when we're ghosts  
_ ' _Cause you were always there for me  
_ _When I needed you most_

 _I'm gonna love you till  
_ _My lungs give out  
_ _I promise till death we part  
_ _Like in our vows_

 _So I wrote this song for you  
_ _Now everybody knows  
_ ' _Cause now it's just you and me  
_ _Till we're gray and old_

 _Just say you won't let go  
_ _Just say you won't let go  
_ _Just say you won't let go_

 _Oh, just say you won't let go_

The last few notes strummed out, and the crowd erupted in applause as the lights and lighters waved around crazily. Nia gave a huge smile as she looked out into the crowd, still holding onto the mic.

"Guys!"

I finally managed to tear my eyes away and turned to see Leo, Mikey and Vanessa running over to us. They had been only a few feet away and we hadn't noticed.

"It's about time you got here," Vanessa chimed. "Did you see that? Wasn't it wonderful?"

"We got here right at the second half," said Donnie. "We got to see the rest."

"C'mon, let's go see them."

We all followed behind Vanessa as she lead us towards the left of the stage. We got there just as Nia and her group exited down the stairs. Vanessa cheered as she ran up and hugged her.

"You were brilliant!"

"It was so cool!" Mikey piped up. "I couldn't stop watching."

Leo nodded. "Phenomenal."

"Were you nervous?" Donnie asked her.

"A little," Nia admitted. "Especially right before we went on. But, Martin and Joseph gave me a little confidence boost and I was able to pull through."

"Of course you were!" the guy called Joseph yelled as he ran up and slung his arm around her. "Our little doll held the crowd like putty in her hands."

"Don't over exaggerate, cousin," Martin walked up to us. "It was only our first performance, can't be getting bigheaded yet."

Nia giggled at her friends. I felt an irritation in my chest as I glared at Joseph's hand, which was still wrapped around Nia's waist. Suddenly, I felt somebody nudge me in the arm and I turned to see it was Donnie, who was smiling weirdly at me.

"Hey, what did you think Raph?" he asked a little loudly.

I gave him and odd look that didn't go away until I turned back to Nia. Her expression seemed to change as her huge, brown eyes stared back at me. I then realized that everyone was looking at me, waiting for my answer. _Damn it, Donnie…_ But I remembered how captivated I had been in the crowd, how incredible she looked on that stage, and the way she stared at me made my chest flip.

"You were amazing."

She blushed. She fricking blushed. I could see it through her make up and it took all of my strength to try not to blush back. I'm pretty sure I failed as I could feel my face heat up at the smile she gave me. At that moment we all turned and decided to continue with the party. I thought I saw a smirk on Donnie's face as we walked away, but it was probably my imagination.

It had been half an hour and we were still in Central Park. It was definitely past midnight now, and the party was going to be dying down soon. Donnie, Leo and Angus were all standing in a circle with Nia's band. Nia, Mikey and Vanessa were only a few feet away, laughing about who knows what. I, however, had gone back to that Captain America guy for another rematch of arm-wrestling. Needless to say, I won the rest of them. The only reason I left is because I got tired of him constantly asking for a rematch. Talk about desperate.

As I spotted Donnie I suddenly remembered the stunt he pulled earlier and felt irritated again. I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.

"What?"

"What was that earlier?" I whispered.

He gave me a weird look before he glanced at the others. Realizing I didn't wanna be heard, he leaned in a bit.

"What earlier?"

"When you asked how I liked the show as loud as you could," I confirmed. "What was that about?"

"Oh." He definitely did smirk this time. He tried to hide it, but I still saw it. "I was just asking 'cause I knew Nia wouldn't. I was helping her out."

"Yeah right."

"Why? Are you upset that you liked it?"

"No."

"Are you upset that she cared what you thought?"

"No!" I inhaled sharply to keep me from getting louder. "I just… I don't know, I…"

"Are you upset that she made you blush?"

I froze as I stared at him. He looked back at me, not seeming phased at all.

"You weren't exactly hiding it, though somehow no one else saw it."

"What're you-"

At that moment the host in the devil costume spoke over the mic.

"Attention partygoers, this party will be ending soon so be ready to leave as soon as possible. However, I've been given a request for one more song before the night ends… how's about another slow song just to settle things down. We'll be shutting down afterward, thank you and have a fantastic Halloween!"

People started whistling as subtle music started playing. I looked around and people started to separate into pairs. I heard laughter and looked over to see that Vanessa and Mikey, who had just been talking to Nia, had vanished.

"Well, I don't plan on leaving without dancing."

It was Joseph. For a second I thought he was about to talk to Nia, but to my surprise he playfully nudged Ace.

"Hey-"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Wasn't homecoming last year fun?"

"You dragged me away from my date that night."

"And he ended up being an ass anyway. C'mon, I haven't danced with anyone all night and now I'm bored!"

"I'm not helping you out."

"Dude, guys help guys out in their time of need. Now be a bro and dance with me!"

"I don't want-"

But Joseph had already grabbed Ace's arm and was dragging him into the crowd. Martin, who had stood there and watched the whole thing, laughed out loud.

"I'm going to get one more drink," he said. "Fellas?"

He turned, and Leo and Angus followed after. Donnie took a few steps as well, then turned to me.

"Are you coming?"

I was about to say yes when I remembered that they had left Nia, all alone by herself. I glanced at her, then at Donnie and shook my head. He shrugged and walked away with the others. I looked at Nia, who was observing everything around her calmly. Then she spoke up.

"They ditched you too, huh?"

I laughed. "Yeah. Some friends."

We stood their awkwardly for a moment. Well, I was awkward. She just seemed to be standing there, looking around the park calmly. If she was feeling awkward she was hiding it very well. I shifted my feet in the grass, contemplating what I was about to do. _Might as well try…_ a voice in my head told me. I took a deep breath.

Suddenly, we were both looking at each other and talking at the same time.

"Hey did you-"

We stopped immediately and started apologizing.

"Sorry, I just-"

"I didn't mean… oh."

"Oh… um…"

"…"

"…"

"Did you maybe-"

"Did you want to…"

"Oh, sorry…"

"No no, I am."

"It's fine, I just… I thought-"

"I was wondering if you'd like…"

"Only if you want to."

We stared at each other for a moment.

"Are we… asking the same thing?"

"I think so…"

We stood still for a moment. Then, with all the courage I had, I held my hand out. She looked down at it and I immediately began to chew myself out. That is, until she took my hand with her own. I've never realized how soft her hands actually were. We both looked at each other nervously before we both slowly walked out to the crowd.

 _You know I'd fall apart without you  
_ _I don't know how you do what you do  
_ ' _Cause everything that don't make sense about me  
_ _Makes sense when I'm with you_

We seemed to have magically found a path through all the couples until we found an empty spot in the grass. I looked at her as she nervously looked down at her feet. I grinned and gently pulled her closer to me, putting my hands on her hips. She looked up at me for a moment before grinning and putting her hands on my shoulders.

 _Like everything that's green, girl, I need you  
_ _But it's more than one and one makes two  
_ _Put aside the math and the logic of it  
_ _You gotta know your wanted too_

I don't know when we started swaying, but we were. Just a soft back and forth, right where we were, same as everyone else around us. How could something so simple be making my stomach do backflips?

' _Cause I wanna wrap you up  
_ _Wanna kiss your lips  
_ _I wanna make you feel wanted  
_ _And I wanna call you mine_

 _Wanna hold your hand forever  
_ _And never let you forget it  
_ _Yeah, I, I wanna make you feel wanted_

 _Anyone can tell you you're pretty, yeah  
_ _And you get that all the time, I know you do  
_ _But your beauty's deeper than the make-up  
_ _And I wanna show you what I see tonight…_

"Oh my gosh…!"

I glanced down at Nia and saw that she was looking off to my right, a bright look on her face. I raised my eyebrow and looked off in the direction she was looking. My jaw fell to the floor. Mike and Vanessa were slow dancing together, holding each other surprisingly close, both looking very happy. Vanessa was just as short as Mikey was, so she was eyelevel with him as they danced.

"I'm surprised, but at the same time I'm not," I admitted.

"I know!" Nia beamed at the two. "Look at them, they're so freaking cute!"

"You don't think it's weird?"

"Of course not. Do you think I'd always be helping Donnie out with April if I did?"

I was about to tell her "I guess not", when I saw the look on her face fall. I just realized that that was the first time any of us had even mentioned April since the last time we had seen her. Nia was obviously still broken up about the whole thing, and mentioning April must've been too much or something. I couldn't exactly blame her. I missed April as much as the others.

Curiously, I glanced over at Mikey and Vanessa. As childish and stupid as Mikey could be sometimes, he was being pretty smooth at the moment. He must've been doing something right because Vanessa was completely falling into his embrace, her head on his shoulder. _Damn._

I looked at Nia's sadden face for another moment before I moved my hands into the curve of her back, pulling her closer to me. She looked up and the broken look on her face had vanished. I swear, I thought I could see her blush underneath her makeup, but who knows? I half expected her to push me back, and I was prepared for it. But, she slowly leaned back into me until her arms were wrapped around my neck.

 _When I wrap you up,  
_ _When I kiss your lips  
_ _I, wanna make you feel wanted  
_

 _I wanna call you mine  
_ _Wanna hold your hand forever  
_ _And never let you forget it  
_ ' _Cause, baby, I, I wanna make you feel wanted_

My body felt like it was doing a million jumping jacks, running a marathon and standing still all at the same time. I had the powerful urge to move around, but I mentally yelled at myself for being stupid and remained still. Besides, I didn't want to move from this spot. I forced myself to stop looking at the ground and looked higher up to look at Nia. I gulped when I realized she was smiling at me, and I could see her ears were definitely red. She seemed to stiffen up for a moment before pulling forward a little more and leaning her head on my shoulder. I blinked in awe for a moment, but smiled as I wrapped my arms around her figure more. We continued to sway on the spot, holding each other.

 _I just wanna wrap you up  
_ _Wanna kiss your lips  
_ _I wanna make you feel wanted  
_

 _I wanna call you mine  
_ _Wanna hold your hand forever  
_ _And never let you forget it  
_

 _Yeah, I wanna make you feel  
_ _Wanted  
_ _Baby, I wanna make you feel…  
_ _Wanted..._

 _You'll always...  
_ _Be wanted…_

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

My head was spinning the entire drive home. Martin and the other two went back to his place in his car. They offered to let us spend the night, but we had to decline for obvious reasons. The boys were in the back and I was in the front again. We were all a little disheveled by now. We had loosened out costumes and undid our hair. Mine was all in my face it was crazy.

I forced myself to stop thinking about the dance for a moment and thought about Angus. I had to tell him what happened. I had to. His sister was kidnapped tonight. True, it wasn't for evil intentions, but still. He deserved to know. I felt terrible that I didn't tell him the second I saw him again, but we were literally getting on stage. He looked so happy and excited for our moment that I couldn't bear to break his heart yet. I'll tell him later. I promise.

After about 20 minutes, Angus parked in a dark alley near the music store. There was a manhole cover here that he knew was close to our home, so it was very kind of him. As soon as the car was in parked, the boys hopped out the back and I got out of the passenger seat.

"Thanks for everything Angus," I told him. "Drive safe, okay?"

"Totally," he said. "And we're on for tomorrow night, right?"

I nodded. _Yeah, we need to talk._ I was about to turn when I noticed Vanessa was staring solemnly out of the window behind me. I turned to see the others were working on opening the manhole cover, but nothing else. I was just trying to figure out what she was looking at when I heard Angus groan.

"Go on then!" he snapped. It wasn't angry, just kinda passionate. "What's stopping you?"

She whipped around. "What-?"

"I saw you guys dancing all night. I'm surprised you didn't do it during that slow song."

"Angus, shut it-"

"Go, Ness. What's the worst that could happen?"

Vanessa looked at him, then looked back behind me. A huge smile grew on her face as she suddenly leapt out of the car as well. Before I could ask what she was doing she strode confidently towards the others.

"Hey, Mikey."

Mikey raised his head to look back at her. He smirked at his brothers before standing up and striding over towards her as well. They met in the middle of the alley and he tilted his Mario hat upward.

"'Sup, Ness?"

Vanessa stood there as she raised an eyebrow, a smirk growing on her face. She took 2 steps towards him, her expression remaining. Suddenly, she grabbed his suspenders in one hand, pulled him forward and kissed him. Not on the cheek or on the head. A _real_ kiss.

I gasped, clasping a hand over my mouth. I was too busy staring in awe that I almost didn't notice the other three staring at Mikey, their jaws on the ground, eyes wide and white. About five seconds past and Vanessa finally leaned back. She beamed sweetly at Mikey as she patted his cheek and slowly turned to walk away. Mikey didn't seem to register what was happening. His eyes were cross-eyed and he swaying back and forth, slouching forward slightly. He giggled as he raised his hand up and attempted to say something, but this caused him to lean back and loose balance, falling flat on his shell.

Vanessa, still smiling, stepped back into the car and shut the door. She poked her head through the window and patted my head.

"See you next Wednesday, Nia."

I nodded, unable to speak. They both said goodnight to all of us before Angus put his car in reverse and drove off.

"Mikey…?"

I turned around to see the others all crouched around Mikey, who was still on the ground. I raised my eyebrows as I ran over and looked down at him. His eyes were still crossed, his tongue handing out of his mouth.

"Oh great, she broke him."

"Not like there was much to break."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Raph."


	9. Follow the Leader

Ch. 4  
Follow the Leader

It's been just a few weeks since Halloween had gone by and things were going as smooth as they could. Things in the city were a peace, at least, and we hadn't noticed any major Kraang activity since Halloween night. We were still on the hunt for all the mutagen canisters though, and so far we had only managed to find one out of the dozens that had fallen. Still, nothing was going to stop us from finding them and helping anyone who might have been affected by them.

"Anything yet?" asked Leo.

"Not yet," I responded as I looked underneath decomposing boxes.

"There's bound to be something. Donnie's scanner lead us here, right? Donnie?"

Donnie wasn't paying attention to us, or even his scanner. He seemed to be focused on something in his other hand. Raph marched over to him and snatched the object out of his hand. It was his phone. He looked down at it and gave Donnie an almost pitying look.

"You're texting April again, dude."

"I know I know, I just… ugh…"

Raph gave his brother his phone back before going back to where he had been looking before. I gave Donnie a sad look. I understood what he was feeling. We all did. It's been so long since any of us had seen or heard from April. It felt almost unnatural that we hadn't even received a text from her in such a long time. I continued to text her though. Not constantly like I feared Donnie might have been doing, just every so often to see if she was still okay. The last time I texted her I saw that she had finally read my message, and she had even started typing, but she stopped shortly after. And that was about it. But, as much as I missed her, I knew it was nothing compared to what Donnie was feeling.

"C'mon Donnie, don't get so bent outta shape about April," said Raph. "She'll come around."

Donnie messed around on his mutagen scanner for a moment as he sighed. "Yeah, guess you're right…"

"No sign of any mutagen," Mikey said as he popped up from inside the dumpster. "But you're not gonna believe what I found!"

"Another trash-to-treasure related item?" I asked.

"Yep! An iguana wearing a top hat!"

That made me turn my head. Sure enough, Mikey was holding a huge, stuffed iguana wearing a top hat and a dusty m

"Isn't that cool?! I mean, why would you throw this out?" Mikey giggled and started to move the iguana's limbs like a puppet. "'Ello, gov'nor! How do you like my minocle?"

" _Monocle_." Donnie corrected.

"Whatever."

"You realize that could be a distant cousin?" Raph pointed out. "And he's stuffed with sawdust."

Mikey immediately cringed as he leapt out of the dumpster and tossed the iguana out towards the back of the alley.

"Ugh! Sick!"

"You just bathed yourself in a dumpster full of garbage and _that_ disgusts you?" I asked him.

"Quiet guys!" Donnie snapped. "My ooze scanner is going crazy again! I told you there was mutagen close by."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Ah, your scanner is about as useless as a trench coat on a turtle."

I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "Not much of a fashion statement, either."

"Just give it a chance, guys," said Leo. "It's our fault that those containers went missing, we gotta find them before some random Joe ends up mutated."

"This way!"

We followed Donnie's directions up to the building by our right. Once we reached the roof he told us to start looking everywhere. We searched for probably 2 minutes before we all heard Mikey shout.

"Found it!" he held the full mutagen canister up above his head, smirking. "How many does that bring us up to?"

Donnie looked up. "One… and a half."

Me and the others all groaned irritably.

"But, look on the bright side- only 63 more to go!"

We all turned our heads towards him, giving him deadpanned looks. He frowned, embarrassed.

Once we made sure no other mutagen was on the roof we continued our search. Two more solid hours of looking and we still hadn't come close to anything. It was already getting late and it was obvious that the others were starting to get tired. As much as I had faith in Donnie, my tired and irritated mind wanted to take his scanner and toss it into the street for being so useless as of late.

"We've been looking for mutagen for days now, dudes! This is so boring, I'm gonna scream."

At once, Mikey opened his mouth and began letting out an annoying, ear-piercing scream that was so loud it could have woken up Jersey. I whipped around and ran up to him, slapping my hand over his mouth as we all shouted, "MIKEY!"

"Okay, OKAY! We get it!" Leo roared. "We'll take a little break and do something fun. Cool?"

I removed my hand from Mikey's mouth as we all yelped happily. Leo grinned as well.

"Training session! Yes!"

At once our moods changed and we all let out a disappointed "Aw". Leo's smile fell too as he looked down at us.

"Guys, Sensei wants me to train you, and that's what I'm gonna do."

We all glared at him, but he didn't see. He was too busy looking around, apparently finding something to help us train.

"You see that dragon gate over there?"

I stood up to see what he was pointing at. It was the gate entrance into Chinatown.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna defend it, like… king of the mountain, okay?"

"Is 'King of the Hill' copyrighted?"

Leo gave me a stern look. I held back my giggles as I shrugged.

"Anyways… the only way you can get past me is to use traditional close quarters fighting. Got it?"

Raph frowned. "Whatever you say, Fearless Leader. Let's just get it over with."

Leo jumped off the roof and we followed. He started to lead us towards Chinatown with us just feet behind him. Once we reached the other side of the buildings, Raph stopped us in our tracks.

"Guys, I've got an idea," he whispered to us. "Let's mess around with Leo."

"Like how?"

"He's gonna be expecting us to use that traditional crap, right? Well, let's surprise him! Everyone use something different, so he won't see us coming."

"Yeah!"

"Cool."

Raph looked over at me. "What do you say?"

I blinked. Was Raph asking for my permission? Well, I did tend to play the 'Big Sister Card' pretty strictly every now and again, so I guess it wasn't surprising. I turned to look at Leo as he stood on top of the gate. We all had had a long night, and maybe messing around and having some fun would do him some good.

"Let's do it."

Raph grinned. "Good answer."

A few minutes later we were all on the opposite side of the Chinatown gate. Leo took out one of his katana's and stepped out onto the long wires connecting the gate to the roof we were on. He stopped halfway through and stood there, waiting. I elbowed Mikey, and when he turned I held out the T-Pod and some headphones to him. He grinned before taking them. The others smirked and winked at him as he walked out to the edge. He popped the earbuds into his head before he started to walk out onto the wires.

"What's up, ninja? HA!"

Leo blinked. "What are you doing, Mikey?"

Mikey didn't respond. He continued to listen to his music as he started dancing on top of the wires, looking like he had not a care in the world. Leo frowned as he advanced on him with his katana. Mikey opened his eyes just in time to block his attack, and also lay down a few of his own, knocking Leo back a few feet. He continued to dance as he did so, as well.

"Real funny. Come on!" Leo urged.

Mikey grinned widely at his brother. Then, he bounced onto the wire, flew up in the air over Leo, and landed perfectly onto the gate on the other side.

"Made it! HA! WOO!"

"That's not fair! That was not a real fight!"

Donnie fisted bumped Raph and I before simply walking onto the wire himself. Leo turned to look at him, and grinned.

"Ah, okay…"

Donnie reached behind him and pulled out a throwing star. I could almost see the wheels turning and the calculations being made in his head as he focused in on his brother. Then, without hesitation, he immediately started throwing star after star at all corners around him. Some went straight for Leo, others bounced off buildings towards him, and Leo was forced to block each one with his katana.

"Are you kidding me, Donnie?"

Leo was so occupied with having to stop the stars that Donnie was able to easily maneuver past him and join Mikey on the other side on the gate. By the time Leo was able to finally catch his breath Donnie was already celebrating with Mikey.

" _Ow!_ King of the mountain, baby!"

"Ha! That's my ninja!"

Leo turned and started fuming at them. Raph and I grinned at each other. He gestured outward, allowing me to go first. I grinned as I walked to the edge. I waited until Leo had turned before I started to walk out onto the line.

"Alright," he huffed. "Shouldn't have any problems with you, huh?"

"Normally, you'd be right," I said as I took out my tessen. "But… I'm feeling like having a little fun tonight."

I opened the fan up and instantly tossed it forward. It spun towards his face, but he ducked backwards as it missed and spun back. I caught it in my hands and tossed it again, and Leo tried to duck and block the fan with his katana. He ended up losing his balance and fell off, grabbing onto the wires as he hung off, his feet dangling towards the ground below. I sprinted forward across the wires, reaching up and grabbing my tessen as I got closer to the gate until I finally reached the edge.

"Woo!" I yelled happily.

Mikey raised his hand and I reached up for a high-three. Donnie came up behind me, raising his fist, which I met with my own. I turned to see Leo had managed to climb his way back onto the wires, clutching his katana tightly. He was breathing heavily, now looking very irritated. He slowly turned back towards the opposite building, where Raph was still sitting.

"So what's your trick gonna be?"

"Tricks? What're you guys talking about?"

And then he reached down and pulled out one of his sais, tossing it directly at Leo. Leo held up his katana to block it, and it fell to the ground below.

"Hey! Ninjas never throw their weapons!"

Raph sprung up from his spot and ran forward on the wires at full speed. He hunched down and ran smack dab into Leo, knocking him off balance and making him fall down to the ground. I gasped, my sibling insticts immediately kicking in as I leapt down below and ran over to him.

"Leo, are you alright?"

He groaned in response. There was a sudden clang as his other katana fell directly in front of him. Raph had taken his and marked on it the word 'Lame-o-nardo' in the dust on the metal. The other three had jumped from the gate and landed in a huddle. They all whooped and hollered as they high-threed each other. I ignored them as I went to put a hand on Leo's shell.

"Bro, are you hurt-?"

But he smacked my hand away as he got to his feet. He turned to glare at all of us as he pointed a shaking finger.

" _Why do you always undermined my training?!_ "

"You just want us to fight exactly like you fight!" Raph snapped. "But the whole point is to make it to the dragon gate any way we can, right?"

I gulped. "He's got a point, Leo. I mean, in a life or death situation, anyway we can get by is-"

"Oh, of course you agree with him!" he yelled, turning towards me. "You were up there playing tricks like the rest of them!"

"Don't you start on her!" Raph growled threateningly, taking a few steps forward.

"Guys, don't!"

I quickly got between them, holding my arms out. Leo groaned angrily, turning away from us. I looked over at Raph, who had stopped walking when I had spoken up.

"Whatever. C'mon guys," he said, turning back to the others. "Coming Nia?"

I looked over at Leo, who had been looking over at me, but immediately turned away as I looked at him. I felt a huge pang in my stomach.

"Yeah… I'm coming."

I stuffed my hands in my pockets as I followed the others, leaving Leo behind.

* * *

It had been two nights since the training incident. Leo has been relatively quiet during that time. Not like he didn't talk at all, he just didn't say much if it wasn't related to training or patrol. I still felt bad about how training ended up the other night. I really thought that us having some fun might have lightened him up a little bit. But, even as we rode out on patrol for more mutagen, he remained silent.

Mikey, who seemed to be the only one other than me who felt bad, decided to ask first.

"You're not mad at us, are you Leo? I'll give you Mutant Puss Monsters 23 if you're not mad."

I turned my head from my station as I heard, seeing Mikey holding up one of his many comics. Leo looked at his brother for a moment, frown still on his face. However, the stoic expression seemed to soften as he looked at Mikey's worried little eyes. Leo lowered the comic from his face.

"I'm not mad. I just think you guys need to be a little better at following my orders."

"Aww… it's too bad I can't play my violin while I drive," Raph said rudely.

I frowned at him as Leo glared.

"What's your problem lately, Raph? You still jealous you're not leading the team-"

"Stop the Shellraiser!" Donnie perked his head up, his scanner suddenly beeping loud and fast. "Scanner's picked up another mutagen canister nearby!"

Leo stopped talking as Raph quickly put the van in park. So quickly in fact, that the Shellraiser skidded to a sharp halt, causing us all to jolt forward. Since I had my seatbelt I just slammed back into my seat. Mikey, however, flew several feet forward and landed on the floor and Donnie smacked his head against his computer screen.

"And that's why you wear your seatbelt," I groaned, rubbing my chest as I unbuckled.

We all exited the van and stepped out. It was very late, and the only source of light was a nearby street lamp. Donnie lead the way with his scanner as we all followed close behind.

"We're close, guys. Signal's coming from the basement."

"Okay," Leo started. "Let's not make any sudden moves before I give the-"

He was cut off by a loud screech of metal. The other three had moved forward, despite his instructions, and had moved the large metal grate and gone into the chute.

"…orders."

"At least they didn't do anything crazy," I said encouragingly, running forward and hopping down into the chute.

Donnie continued to lead us in the basement. So far, all that we saw were dusty walls and hundreds of wooden crates.

"You guys see anything?" I asked as I shifted a few boxes to the side.

"Not yet."

"It's really close guys."

There was a minute of silence, then…

"Oh yeah! Found it!"

I turned my head to see Mikey marching into a room, where a full, intact canister lay in the center of the floor in plain view. That's weird…

"Go Ninja, go ninja, go!"

Mikey knelt by the canister and grabbed it, looking very proud of himself. But out of nowhere, Leo screamed.

"Don't!"

But Mikey had already picked it up. There were several loud bangs that echoed around the room. I looked up to see metal doors slamming shut on all of the exits.

"See! If you would listen to me-"

"Easier than I thought."

We all froze. I knew that voice. I kept myself from groaning as I turned. Sure enough, standing on a tower of crates, looking very proud and full of herself, was…

"Karai!" Leo said, surprised.

"Long time, eh Leo?"

Before we could respond there was movement from all sides. I whipped around as I pulled out my tessen. At least a dozen Foot Soldiers seemed to have appeared out of thin air and had surrounded us from all sides.

"Your lady friend is getting really good at setting ambushes," said Donnie.

Raph barked, "Ha! They're just Foot Soldiers. Won't even break a sweat!"

Raph leapt forward first, and then so did we. I went straight for the two in front of me, holding my tessen level with my shoulder. They both swung their katanas at me, but I ducked backwards, sliding forward on my legs. I immediately spun around in the air, kicking them both in the head as I flung my tessen out. It slashed across their faces before shooting back towards me, and I caught it. The Foot Soldiers looked like they were off balance for a moment. Then, their heads shot up to look at me, and their eyes suddenly start to light up red.

"What the-"

They snapped up and started running at me again. I ran forward and at the last minute I jumped into the air, summersaulted and brought my foot down to hit the right one's head. But at that moment, it reached up and grabbed my ankle. I gasped as I was slammed forward onto the ground and had a huge foot pressed down onto my back.

"They armored up or something?" I heard Mikey ask.

I looked up. From what I could see, the others were having just as much trouble as I was. I flipped myself around and tripped the Foot Soldier that was on top of me off. After getting to my feet I immediately backed away to get closer to my bros, and they seemed to have the same idea.

"Everybody, fall back!" Leo suddenly ordered.

Raph shouted. "What?! We're running away?"

"It's not running, it's a tactical retreat. Move!"

Leo immediately turned and began running towards an old, opened elevator shaft nearby. I was about to turn and follow when I noticed none of the others did.

"I don't care what Leo says. I don't run from the Foot."

Raph then leapt forward and swung at a group of ninjas. They each laid one blow on him before he was on the ground in front of us again. The looks on the others faces showed that they were no longer in favor of staying.

"This way!"

We all finally headed in Leo's direction. After slipping through the broken doors I grabbed onto the metal beams on the side and began to climb upwards, the others following close behind me. The Foot Soldiers began following us up the shaft as well, and were gaining on us. I heard a yell and saw that a ninja had grabbed Mikey and was hanging by his ankle.

"Get off me, creep!"

Leo jumped forward and jumped off the ninja's head, causing him to fall while Leo landed back on the wall. We watched the ninja fall until he reached the bottom. Then, we saw his head suddenly pop off like a bottle cap, and power sparks started shooting out of his next.

"Those guys are robots?" Donnie gasped.

"Move your shell, Donnie! Go!" Leo snapped.

Raph was the first to reach the next level. Once there he reached down and helped Mikey, Donnie and I out onto the floor. I sat there catching my breath as Raph remained at the edge.

"Hurry Leo!" he yelled.

I didn't hear Leo respond. I got up quickly to look in, and I saw that all of the soldiers started to gang up on him. They were grabbing him, clinging to him, doing whatever they could to keep him from getting up. One of Leo's hands remained attached to the wall, the other reached out for Raph's hand. I reached behind me to get some ninja stars to throw at the Foot, but just as I did Leo's hand slipped. His body seemed to slowly fade into the darkness slowly as he fell down, the soldiers falling with him as he yelled all the way down.

"Leo!"

"No!"

I cried as I leaned forward, but Raph stood up and pulled me back away from the ledge. I struggled for a moment before allowing him to move me and gently set me down on the ground.

"What happened?" Donnie asked.

I felt close to tears as Raph straightened up.

"Leo's gone… and it's all my fault."

* * *

 **Leo's P.O.V.**

This was as bad as it could be. We were nowhere near finding all the mutagen, our plan to escape the Foot failed, and now I was hanging in a cage in… wherever this place was. Well, no. It was worse than that. Karai had to add insult to injury by mocking me.

"You know, I bet I'd make a small fortune if I sold you to a science lab," she gloated, waving my katanas around aimlessly as she paced around the room. "Could you imagine the press? "Talking Ninja Turtle Found in Sewer.""

I sighed. "Sweet. Captured and now totally humiliated. Awesome day, Leo. Awesome day."

"You deserve everything you're getting, Leo," Karai spat, suddenly angry. "After you betrayed me last time."

I wanted to respond, but my mouth remained shut. As bad as Karai might be, I betrayed her first. As mad as I am right now I still can't forgive myself for that.

There was the sound of heavy footsteps and I looked down through the cage bars. There were several more of the Foot soldier robots from before. They were all walking further into the room and forming a circle all around me on the floor.

"Don't you love it? My new robotic Foot Bots follow my orders to a T. No arguing, no prodding. They do whatever I want. Cool, right?"

"Yeah, _convenient_. Nice."

"I've been teaching the Foot Bots new skills," she smirked. "But, now I'm turning the training over to someone new."

She took out a knife and tossed it forward. It cut the rope of the cage and I fell down heavily. This caused the cage to break and fall apart off of me. I looked up to see Karai step in front of me before she tossed my katanas down on the floor.

"Foot Bots. De-shell him."

I gasped and instantly swiped up my katanas, slicing at the first bot that swung at me. The others looked at me before advancing. I dodged several pairs of throwing stars before circling around the room. I cut through the bots that were in my way until I reached the other side of the room and turned. I blocked an oncoming attach with my blades, but I was soon kicked in the side and backed into a corner.

I looked up in time to see them charging at me again. They just kept coming! I managed to cut up two who advanced, but one managed to kick me hard so that I was back in the middle of the bots again. I raised my katanas up just in time to block a set of blades from coming down on my head.

"You spend years learning a fighting style, and my robots learn it in seconds- from you. Fighting just improves their skills."

It wasn't long before each of the bots were on me. They knocked me off balance and took my katanas, pinning me to the ground so hard it felt like my plastron might crack. I struggled as best as I could, glancing up to see Karai standing there, staring at me.

"Karai!" I grunted.

"I never got to know my mother, because your rodent master took her away from me!"

"Splinter…?"

I shook my head as I managed to push the Foot Bots off of me I jumped to my feet and ran up to her, several more bots stopping me in my tracks.

"That's a lie!"

Karai glared at me. "Get him out of my sight."

The Foot Bots started to drag me away. I fought against them, not taking my eyes off of Karai as she turned away from me.

"Karai, listen to me! Splinter would never hurt your mother."

Karai seemed to turn her head slightly before walking away. The Foot Bots pulled me further way, and I could feel tap being slapped across my mouth.

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

"Okay, so I hacked into some security footage," Donnie zoomed in on the little screens on his computer. "There! It's Karai's van."

"They took Leo to the Bradford Dojo!" piped up Mikey.

"Why would Karai go there of all places?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter why," said Raph. "What matters is that we know where Leo is. Let's do this!"

"Wait, so you're leader now?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. I'm the smartest so-"

"Guys!" I snapped, making them all turn to stare at me. "Now is not the time to be playing Hot Potato with Leo's leadership. We don't have any idea what Karai is doing, so we need to go get Leo back now before she does something bad!"

"She's right," Raph stood up. "Leo needs us. And listen, this time we fight how Leo wanted us to fight- the way he fights."

"Well said," Donnie agreed, getting to his feet as well.

"Alright, let's get going!"

We wasted no more time as we left the dojo in a rush. It felt like seconds before we had reached the rooftops on the surface. Mikey was up in front with Raph since he remembered how to get there, while Donnie and I brought up the rear. Not many words were spoken between us. We all wanted to remain as undetectable as possible.

Soon enough we reached the right building. Getting up top was easy enough, but we had to make sure that we wouldn't be spotted getting in there.

"We can't sneak in," he whispered. "Security camera."

"No sweat, I got this."

Raph reached around, and suddenly pulled out a small pigeon. It sat in his palm, it's crooked eyes staring blankly as its head twitched. After getting over the surprise of the bird's appearance, I was about to as how he got the pigeon when Donnie shook his head.

"It's not just one. The entire roof is bracketed by surveillance."

Raph just smiled as he gently stroked the pigeon's head. I could've sworn I heard him mumble something before he lifted his hand and the pigeon flew up and landed on the skylight. It started cooing and calling loudly, and after a second several more pigeons came by. Then some more. The entire roof was flooded with pigeons, more than enough to cover the cameras.

"Let's go."

Raph quickly walked towards the skylight and opened the hatch. Donnie crawled inside and Mikey did after. I stopped in front of it to grin at Raph.

"You know, if this whole ninja thing doesn't work out, I heard they're holding tryouts for the next Disney princess, if you're interested."

Raph's eyes glared at me, but I could tell from his expression that he wanted to laugh.

"Shut up and get in there."

I nodded and hopped right in. I saw him give the pigeons a thumbs up before climbing in and shutting the hatch.

Things were immediately serious again. We all carefully snuck across the beams up by the ceiling, not opening our mouths for anything. It took us a minute before we found the room where Leo was. He was tied up to a chair and had duct tape on his mouth. Several of the Foot Bots from before surrounded him, clearly guarding him.

Leo didn't notice us until we were on the beams directly above him. But when he looked up and saw us, he didn't look happy or relieved like I'd hoped. He looked shocked and flustered. He started grunting and making noises, shaking his head wildly at us. I blinked. Something wasn't right.

"Hey, guys…"

But the other three had already jumped down, knocking down the Foot Bots. I rolled my eyes and leapt down in front of Leo. He continued to thrash his head around and attempted to speak through the tape on his mouth.

"Calm down, bro, let me get this off of you," I told him.

I walked around him as I took out one of my kamas and cut the ropes. As soon as he was free he yanked the tape off of his mouth and suddenly shouted,

"It's a trap!"

Before we could respond, what seemed like a dozen Foot Bots suddenly flooded into the room. There was the sound of doors sliding open, and I turned my head to see Karai standing behind us with even more Foot Bots beside her. She had a huge smirk on her face that I was tempted to smack right off.

"Nice, Leo! You could've said something!" Mikey commented.

"You got two choices, sweetheart," Raph threatened, grabbing onto his sais. "Let us go, or walk away from this inside a sandwich bag."

"Sorry, Raphael. Can't let you go," Karai stepped down from the desk she had been standing on and sat down in her chair. "It's not really that personal with the rest of you- I just need you for bait."

"She wants Splinter," Leo explained, glaring up at Karai.

"Your sensei will eventually track you here, and when he shows up, Splinter will know what it's like to truly suffer," she snapped her fingers. "Restrain them."

I instantly pulled out my other kama as the boys took out their weapons. The Foot Bots attacked us without hesitation, and I narrowly missed getting my neck hit with a shikoro before blocking it.

"Let's smash some robots!" Raph hollered as he sliced through the two bots nearest him.

"They're only 1000 times better at fighting than regular Foot," said Donnie as he struggled to fight the two around him.

I shoved the bot away from my throat and tossed one of my kamas at him, hitting him in the head. I ran out and grabbed it just as another bot stuck its foot out and tripped me. I had barely gotten myself back up before I looked up and saw two bots throwing their own kamas at me exactly how I just did. I had to flattened myself out and roll away to avoid them.

"My Foot Bots know every move," said Karai. "Every skill. Every attack."

"We're out of real-estate," Donnie grunted.

I sat up and looked at the advancing Foot Bots, feeling a little lost as to what to do next. Then Leo suddenly slid in-between us and the bots, holding his katanas up.

"If I order you to run away, will you guys listen this time?"

"Heck yeah!" said Mikey. "And we can still call it a tactical retreat, if you want."

We all got up and immediately started to climb up towards the ceiling. I looked down to make sure Leo was following us before continuing to climb up to the hatch on the skylight.

"Foot Bots! Don't let them escape!"

I didn't even bother looking back as we reached the roof and immediately started running across, trying to get as much distance between us and the bots as possible.

"Our moves are useless!" Raph snapped.

"What do we do, Leo?" I asked as I ran up to him.

"I don't know," he responded. "They know every move I can make. Every fighting style, every skill, every- Wait a second…"

He stopped talking, a look of realization on his face.

"Remember King of the Mountain?"

"Yeah, sure."

"What about it?"

We all jumped down from the last roof and landed into a small park. Just as the bots following us landed in the park too, Leo shouted loudly to get their attention, tossing one of his katanas into the air. I stared in confusion just as he tossed his other katana at the bots, who had all been staring up at the katana in the air. The other one went straight through the head of one of the bots, and the others charged forward as Leo caught the katana out of the air.

"Oh, I get what you're saying!" said Donnie. "Be unpredictable. Do our thing!"

I turned my head as I looked at the group of bots coming my way. _Be unpredictable. Alright…_ I gripped my kamas tightly and ran forward, tossing both out to go above their heads. I leaned back as far as I could go and slid between the middle one's legs. As I did, I reached down and pulled my tessen out of its holster, stood up, and sliced the back of the middle bot's head. The other two turned to look at me, and I smirked. Before they could do more than raise their weapons, my kamas finally fell down, right through their heads. I replaced my tessen and picked up both of my kamas.

"We might actually have a chance now."

I heard a high pitched yell, and I looked up to the building next to me. Leo and Karai were both standing on the edge, swinging their weapons at each other. I glared.

"I don't think so."

I ran towards the building and leapt onto the fire escape, climbing up as fast as I can. As soon as I reached the top I saw Karai standing in front of Leo, her back facing me. I knelt down and quietly crept up closer and closer towards her.

"You might as well give up now!" she yelled. "The more you fight those robots, the more they adapt!"

Leo glanced behind Karai to look at me for a fraction of a second. He looked back at her, a small smirk on his face.

"Your robots may know our moves, but you don't!"

And he threw his katana directly at her. Karai was caught off guard for a moment before blocking it and knocking it into the air.

"Fool! A ninja never throws away their weapon!"

I grinned as I grabbed my tessen. "That's the point!"

Before she could turn around or even move I ran up and punched her in the ribs. She grunted as I spun around and kicked her hard in her chest, knocking her back several feet. By now, Leo had caught his katana out of the air and had advanced on her, pushing her further towards the ledge of the building. She glanced behind her, smirked, and then leapt backwards off the edge. I blinked in ran forward.

I hadn't even noticed that we had made it back to the Chinatown gateway. Karai had landed on top of the gate and Leo and I followed after her. She was visibly becoming angrier by the second.

"Think you've won?"

She blocked Leo's katana and then kicked him in the chest, knocking him down so he almost fell off the gate. I ran up from behind her and swung at her with my tessen. She ducked and went to stab me in the neck, but I moved to the side and swung my leg out underneath her. She quickly slid down the side and fell down to the ground, landing with a loud thud. I leapt down and ran over, kicking her tanto out of the way. She tried to sit up, but I reached down and held my tessen up to her throat, holding her in place. Leo, who had since gotten to the ground safely, walked over to us. He grinned at me before looking down very seriously at Karai.

"Shredder is lying to you," he said firmly. "Splinter would never hurt an innocent."

Karai didn't respond. She glanced between me and Leo, looking much calmer than before. Leo gave me a stiff nod, and I lowered my tessen as I stood back on my feet. Leo looked back down at Karai as he took a step towards her.

"Your grudge is with me. Stay away from my family, _and_ my Sensei. Understood?"

Karai looked up at him, brows furrowed, an ugly frown on her red lips. Leo turned and ran back towards the building, jumping up to the fire escape. I, however, remained where I was.

"Nia."

I didn't move.

"You and the others go ahead," I told him. "I'll catch up."

Leo didn't move for a second. He nodded, gave Karai a stern look, then continued to climb back towards the others. I put my tessen back into its holster as I looked at her as well.

"You can get up now."

She glared as she quickly stood up, brushing dirty off of her armor.

"What's the matter with you, Karai?"

"Excuse me-"

"Don't pretend," I cut her off. "You think I don't know how you got those bots? Jesus, you're willingly working with the Kraang now?! Who was the one who wanted them off the planet just as much as we did? Who was the one who came to me for help?"

Karai folded her arms. "Times change, princess," she smirked. "What? You didn't actually start to trust me, did you? I thought you knew who I was."

"I thought I did, too," I snapped. "I thought you were better than Shredder. I thought you had enough sense to know that he puts his stupid vendetta above everything else, including _you_. But, no! Like father, like god damn daughter!"

Karai let out an angry sound as she reached behind her to grab her tanto, but it wasn't there. It was still on the ground, several feet behind me.

"I didn't stay behind to fight, so don't even bother."

Karai lowered her hands.

"We had our fun, princess," she said. "But now it's time to be serious about this. This can only end one way, with one of our masters and their apprentices dead. Only then will the fighting stop."

I shook my head. "Whatever you say, Karai."

I took a step back to follow where Leo had gone, but paused and looked back at her.

"I don't know what Shredder has told you, but he is lying," I said seriously. "And Leo's right. Unlike your master, Splinter isn't evil enough to hurt an innocent person, no matter what."

Karai snorted. "And what proof do you have of that, might I ask?"

"Think about it, Karai. If Splinter is evil enough to hurt someone you love, why would he raise the turtles as his own? Why would he train them if he thought the Shredder was dead? Why would he save me if he was so evil?"

She frowned. "What do you mean he saved you?"

I realized how much I had said and I mentally slapped myself.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to figure out your vendetta against Leo, and you need to realize that Shredder is using you, _before_ you get yourself killed."

Karai folded her arms and looked away from me, looking stubborn and irritated. I shook my head before turning away from her.

"Please, believe me, Karai," I said, much kinder and softer than before. "It's not too late. You can still save yourself before Shredder takes you down with him. You know, you'd be much more likable if you'd just let him go."

And I ran off in the same direction as Leo.

* * *

Things were much better once we got back to the lair. Once we had a moment to relax we all started to take turns on the pinball machine. Try as hard as we did, we just couldn't beat our own high scores. We didn't even bother trying to beat Leo's, none of us could do that. Hell, it took Mikey a total of 5 tries to surpass his own personal high score.

"You guys wanna play?" Donnie asked.

"I'm good. You guys have fun," said Leo.

He and Raph turned and walked into the pit, Leo grinning and Raph frowning. I watched as Raph suddenly slung his arm around Leo's shoulders and brought him in for a tight hug. Leo groaned at the added weight as Raph spoke up.

"It's good to have yah back, Leo," he said. "I mean it, brother."

Leo smiled as he pushed himself up. "Thanks, Raph."

They both raised their fists and did a small hand shake before Raph went back to the pinball machine, challenging the other two for the best high score. I grinned at him. I was about to say something to Leo when I noticed he wasn't there anymore. I turned my head around the room until I spotted him on the other side, going into the dojo. I looked at the others to make sure they were distracted by their game before swiftly walking up to the dojo's entrance. I peeked in and saw Leo sitting next to Sensei, who must have been meditating before.

"I need to ask you some questions," Leo continued. "About Karai…"

"It is late, Leonardo," Sensei stood up. "These questions will have to wait for another time."

Leo stood up, too. "She said… you took her mother away from her. I know it's not true, right?"

I froze, staring at the back of Sensei's head. Her mother?! That's who Karai thought Splinter had killed? But why?

"No. It is not true," Sensei said genuinely. "But the truth is… almost as difficult."

"Please, Sensei," Leo begged. "Tell me… trust me."

Sensei, who had been making his way to his room, stopped in his tracks. I thought he was just going to tell Leo sternly that it was late and that he could explain later. But, as he turned around I knew that that was not what he was about to say. A moment later, he said four little words that made my heart stop.

"Karai… is my daughter."


	10. Mutagen Man Unleashed

Ch. 5  
Mutagen Man Unleashed

I sat and stared at my phone for what felt like hours, though it had been about five minutes. I was hoping to hear something from April this time. We had still heard nothing from April in ages. Personally, I felt it was a bit ridiculous and immature that she had gone this long without much contact, but at the same time I understood. The only other person who you could physically tell missed April was Donnie. He was still beyond devastated. I had walked in on him last night sending her another late-night voicemail. He promised to stop, but I knew better.

I sighed, putting my phone into my pocket. Maybe some lunch would distract me. I left my room and headed for the kitchen. I could hear movement from inside and thought that Mikey was in there, possibly cooking up something himself. I smiled and opened my mouth to great him as I pulled back the curtain. My mouth froze and I felt my forehead heat up as I saw Raph standing in the kitchen, holding a box of ramen.

"Oh, hey," he said.

I coughed. "Hey there."

There was silence for a few moments. Raph tensed as he glanced down at the box in his hands, as though he were determined not to look at me.

"I was gonna make some ramen. You want any?"

"That… sounds really good right now."

He nodded, blushing as he turned away. I blushed, too. Things have been different between us since our slow dance on Halloween. Something changed that night. Not drastically, just a little nudge. But it was enough to notice. We both felt it. We both knew it.

I walked over and took a seat at the table as Raph continued what he was doing. He set down the boxes and took out a pot from the cupboard. I watched as he filled the pot with water and put it on the stove. The fact that I was attracted to him wasn't that shocking anymore, I was just curious as to why? Why was I attracted to him? And why now? Looks don't really matter to me, and I've never thought any of the boys were ugly. Now that I think about it, they were all very handsome for some mutant turtles. So, was it just his personality that I loved? He was always kind to me. He was funny, cool, fun to be around, and he never went easy on me when we trained or sparred. He gave it his all just as I did, because we both knew that that was how it would be in a real fight. And… I guess he was more than just handsome for a turtle.

"Here yah go."

I jumped slightly as my mind went back to reality. Raph placed a bowl full of noodles and a pair of chopsticks in front of me. I saw that he was looking a little embarrassed and I cursed. Had I been staring at him the whole time? Did he see me staring? I mentally cursed at myself as I sadly began to eat my noodles. Raph sat next to me but didn't look at me. We ate silently for a few minutes. Several bites later, he spoke first.

"So… what were you up to?" he asked. "I haven't seen you since training this morning."

"Um, just going over some song lyrics in my room," I answered. "Martin wants me to learn some new songs for us to practice. He's trying to get a friend of his to let us play at his uncle's wedding. He says events like those are where opportunities come in."

"I still can't believe you're actually in a band. I mean, you've always been amazing at music but to actually do it…"

My blush increased. He thought I was amazing. Raph's face turned darker as he hunched over his ramen, eating without interruption. I ate some more too, trying to take my mind of my shaking feet.

"Just don't let anything go to your head," he warned. "And watch out for the groupies. I've read some scary shit online about fangirls that went coo coo over celebs."

I laughed as I shook my head. Raph smiled as he watched me, looking much more relaxed than before.

"I never understood how some girls can get celebrity crushes like it's nothing," I breathed, catching my breath and feeling a little more relaxed myself. "I can't imagine crushing on someone like that and not have them notice."

Raph laughed. "Ha! You're one to talk! Didn't you keep a picture of Brendon Urie under your pillow for, like, 3 months?"

"He's a beautiful man with a beautiful voice, don't shame me!"

Raph snorted, spitting out some of his ramen in the process. I folded my arms and shook my head, deliberately looking away from him. Still, I couldn't help the small smile as I heard his deep laughter. As he calmed down I turned and went back to eating my ramen. He took several breaths and I looked over to see him beaming.

"People have crushes on other people without them knowing all the time," Raph wiped a tear from his eye. "You see it all the time on these cheesy, romantic chick-flics. And it's always the dude for some reason. You ever notice that?"

"You're cute when you smile."

We both felt the silence come up and crash like a wave. Raph raised his brow as his mouth hung open, still half-smiling. I snatched my bowl up and immediately started slurping down my ramen as fast as I could. As soon as it was empty I set it down, got out of my chair and ran out of the kitchen, determinedly not looking at Raph.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…!" I hissed at myself.

Why did I say that? Why the hell did I say that?! There was no warning or anything. It's like it didn't even go through my head before I said it, it just came right out of my damn mouth. Jesus, the look on his face… What went through his head? He's probably laughing right now about how stupid I sounded.

"Hey Nia!"

I jumped and turned. Mikey was sitting in the pit in front of the TV next to a small box whose contents I couldn't make out. I settled down and grinned at him.

"Hey Mikey, whatcha doin'?"

"I found a bunch of old anime taps in the trash the other day, and I've been binge watching all day," he beamed. "C'mon, come check 'em out!"

I raised an eyebrow as I walked over and sat on the edge of the pit. The TV screen lit up and the letters 'SRMFF' appeared in on the screen. Then, a group of people dressed in knock off suits from Voltron appeared, and a girl with green hair cried out.

" _Oh no! Super bad times for all!"_

" _Does great danger arrive? Where?"_

I raised my eyebrows as I stared at the screen. Sure, dubbed anime tends to be bad, but this just sounded ridiculous.

" _Killer beast-bots from planet seven are here, with steely resolve!" cried the nerdy one with glasses. "Captain Coolstar, what are we going to do?"_

 _Captain Coolstar then proceeded to slap the poor boy across the face._

" _Get a hold of yourself, man!"_

 _What looked like a small monkey in a yellow suit started whimpered quietly. The guy in red, whose shoulder it was sitting upon, looked at him._

" _Don't worry, Squeakums. We'll blast 'em with Mighty Super Robo Mecha!"_

" _Team! Combine in teamwork mode!"_

" _Super! Robo! Mecha! Force! Five! Team! Five! Go!"_

"What the heck is this nonsense?! It's terrible."

I jumped and turned. The others were all standing behind me, looking at the TV in confusion and distaste. Raph had been the one who spoke.

"Terribly awesome!" Mikey responded, standing up and picking up the box of tapes. "I found these old tapes in a dumpster."

"Tapes?"

"Check it out!"

"Dude, this is awful!" said Leo. "And you guys complained about Space Heroes."

"Their lips don't even match what they're saying!"

"It's dubbed anime, dude," I said. "What do you expect?"

"Whatever. The point is, I could never watch a show this bad!"

"Now, hold on guys," Donnie was rummaging through the box of tapes, examining them. "Maybe it looks weird, but it might be okay. We should at least give it a shot."

I nodded. "I'm with Donnie. It can't be the worse show ever."

Leo and Raph looked at each other for a moment before sighing in defeat.

About an hour later, all four boys were sitting up close to the TV, their eyes glued onto the screen. I smirked at them from my seat in the pit. This show wasn't necessarily bad, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves much more.

"So, she's the princess of an entire planet?" asked Raph. "Cool!"

"Yep, and she also pilots the robot's left leg," said Mikey. "She rules! But, that scientist dude made the robot!"

"The story has such an intricate, layered plot," Donnie beamed. "Four stars!"

 _Suddenly, the screen changed to show the nerdy boy talking nervously to the princess._

" _P-p-princess, I'd like to invite you for space dinner, if you please. Yes?"_

" _What? I, date a weakling like you? Not for 10,000 Zarkon crystals!"_

 _Dramatic music played as the boy cried out in horror._

At once, the others all started laughing. Donnie just sat there, staring at the screen with his jaw hanging open. Mikey nudged him playfully.

"Haha Donnie, that is so you and April, dude!"

"It is no!" Donnie snapped, then stood up. "Meh, this show is lame anyway, the plot makes zero sense! I'll be in the lab…"

I watched as Donnie marched away, a much grimmer look on his face than before. I turned my head to look at Mikey.

"Why'd you have to do that, dude?" I asked. "He's already upset enough about April already."

Mikey hunched over. "I just… thought it was funny."

I sighed. I wasn't feeling up for cartoons anymore. I stood up as I started heading to my room. I needed to keep practicing my music anyway.

* * *

Training that night had only been a little stressful for me. I was deliberately avoiding being alone with Raph as best as I could without making it look like I was avoiding him specifically. But, even as I trained I could feel him stand close to me. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I wasn't sure how to feel, but I wanted none of it tonight.

Tonight, we were training with sneak attacks. Leo had set up certain obstacles for each of us to be tested on. Currently, it was Mikey's turn. Obviously, it was more simple than the others. Leo simply had him go explore some of the buildings for a bit before setting up a trap in the form of an open pizza box with a single slice of pizza inside.

"Get ready for when he comes," whispered Leo.

I nodded and waited. Soon enough, I heard him shout out his catchphrase as he landed on the skylight, grinding it on his skateboard. He flipped off and was about to continue on when he spotted the pizza box laying where Leo had left it.

"Hello? This slice belong to anyone?" Mikey called out. "Huh? Ha… then it's all mine!"

Leo withdrew one of his katana's and began creeping around the roof. He went from one end to the other, climbing around the vents and atop the water tower. Mikey turned around only once before grabbing the pizza and bringing it closer to his mouth. Leo suddenly leapt down and immediately knocked Mikey up and off of his feet. He landed loudly on his shell and Leo held his sword down to keep him there. Then he held out his other hand, revealing the single slice of pizza resting in his grasp. Then, he smirked before he started to eat it himself.

"What the heck was that?" Mikey demanded.

Leo swallowed the pizza whole before answering, "That was a stealth attack. And that's what we're practicing in today's training session."

He smiled, spinning his katana and putting it back in its sheath. He held is hand out and helped Mikey to his feet.

"No fair, I couldn't see you comin'!"

"That's why they call it stealth, genius," Raph said, displeased.

"Why would you eat random pizza you found on a roof anyway?" asked Donnie.

"Roof pizza is like one of my ten favorite kinds of pizza."

I grabbed his shoulder. "Dude, you really need to expand your horizons a bit."

"Okay guys, listen up," started Leo. "Two keys to stealth- misdirection and camouflage. Got it? Raph and Mikey, you guys are up."

"Nah, I don't wanna do this anymore. Do you, Raph?"

But, as he opened his eyes, we had already disappeared from sight. I was hiding behind the water tower, Donnie I'm sure was still on top of it, and I'm not sure where the other two went. Mikey looked around, looking nervous before shrugging and bending over to pick up his skateboard. Suddenly, Raph jumped out of nowhere and grabbed Mikey by his shell, lifting him up into the air.

"Shellwedgie!"

Mikey yelped and thrashed as he was held up like a new born baby.

"No fair! Stealth attacks are _lame_!"

I couldn't help but giggle as I watched Raph mess around with him. Even if he could be too much sometimes, it was always funny seeing him play with the others. I heard footsteps from behind me and turned. Donnie wasn't even paying attention to the training, but was walking away to the opposite side of the building. I looked at him for a moment before walking over to him.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Donnie looked over at me. "I was just thinking… April's always studying in the park around this time. Would it seem weird for me to just show up?"

I folded my arms. "Well, considering you don't normally go there, 'cause you can't, it might be a bit obvious you went there to find her."

He sighed. "You're probably right."

I leaned over and patted his shell. He grinned slightly for a moment. Then he turned his head to look at me, a curious expression on his face.

"So, what happened this afternoon?"

"What do you mean?"

"Today," he answered. "I went to get some lunch and saw you run out of the kitchen. Raph was still in there and he looked kind of bothered. Did you two get in a fight or something? He wouldn't tell me."

I felt my heart leap into my throat. Oh great, Donnie saw that. Should I tell him what happened? Yes, it was embarrassing, but Donnie was the only person I could talk to about this stuff. And I had to tell someone.

"Well…" I turned my head back to make sure the others weren't listening before I continued, "No, quite the opposite, actually."

And so I spilled it, going into detail about how the afternoon went. When I got to the part about what I had said to Raph, I said it in such a low whisper that Donnie had to lean in to hear it. When he did, his eyes widened and so did his smile. He held a hand up to his mouth as he chuckled.

"Nia, that's got to be the most adorable thing I've ever heard."

"It's not adorable, it's embarrassing!" I snapped at him. "You didn't see the look on his face… I bet he was freaking laughing when I left."

"You're wrong. He didn't look at me much, but I could tell he was blushing," Donnie grinned. "And, for your information, he was smiling too."

I stared up at him. Blushing and smiling? Really? I turned away and stared off into space, thinking it over. That must have meant he was happy, right? So I didn't muck up anything then! My heart leapt again, but this time it was a lighter and happier jump. I found myself smiling to myself. Donnie's voice snapped me back to reality.

"Look Nia, you really don't have anything to worry about. From what I can see, you probably have a better chance at being something with Raph than I do with April. So relax, I'm sure you'll be fine."

I nodded, looking off at the city. Could Raph and I… actually be something? Boy, what a thought. I was about to ask how I should go about doing that when I heard Donnie gasp. I turned to see him leaning over the edge of the building and looking down. I followed his gaze and gasped too.

It was April. She was in the little park, sitting on the swings with a book in her hands. But, she wasn't alone. She was swinging next to a tall, dark haired kid who was dressed in all black and gray clothes. I had to stare at him for a moment before I recognized him. It was that Casey Jones kid I met on Halloween. Did he and April know each other? Did they go to the same school, perhaps? They seemed to be talking about something important, but I could just barley hear them.

"School isn't really my thing," said Casey. "When I graduate, I'm either becoming a pro hockey player or an international bounty hunter."

I couldn't help but grin. Leave it to a kid like Casey to have badass dreams like that.

"Those are quite the options," April told him.

"Who wants a normal life anyway, right?"

April didn't respond. She just sat still on the swing, messing with her hair. Casey stared at her for a moment.

"Hold still Red, you got a smug on your face."

Casey leaned over and started wiping away at April's cheek. I heard what sounded like a puppy getting kicked and looked around. Donnie was on his knees, leaning further and further over the edge, looking furious.

"She's on a… date?! I can't believe it! And with some punk human kid! What're they saying?"

Before I could yank Donnie back over and knock some sense into him, he had leaned so far over that he finally fell off. He fell down and slammed into one of the dumpsters below. I quickly ducked my head down so that Casey and April wouldn't see me. I could hear them talking to themselves, wondering what that noise was.

"Damn it, Donnie…" I groaned.

* * *

Needless to say, Donnie's mood didn't improve when we got home. I was stuck in his lab with him, sitting on top of his desk as I listened to him vent.

"Ridiculous… And- and they were _swinging_ together. Swinging! And then she _looked_ at him!"

"Yeah, she kinda has to," I told him.

"No no, she gave him _that_ look! Like-like- like this!"

Donnie turned to me and gave me a wide, doe-eyed smile, blinking his eyes sweetly. I had to resist the urge to laugh. In reality, she didn't look at him that way at all. But, Donnie wasn't thinking straight right now. He dropped the sweet smile and it was replaced with an ugly grimace.

"Ohh… why was she even with him? Because he's human, that's why! _Big deal_! Do you know how many people are human?"

"Around 6 or 7 billion," I answered.

Donnie rolled his eyes and continued on with his machine. He tinkered with it for a moment before bringing it over to Timothy's tank and hooking the two up together.

"I'm almost done with your voice box," he muttered. "Okay… how's that?"

" _Speaking… to you… Donnie…"_

I smiled. "Hey Timothy. Nice to hear you again, buddy."

"It works!" Donnie puffed out his chest. "Ha ha ha! Let's see April's _boyfriend_ design something like this!"

" _I… like April… Donnie…"_

Donnie smiled sadly. "Yeah, you and me both, Pulverizor. I just have to face it. She'll never wanna be friends again."

" _April… friend…?"_

"Yeah, she's our friend, Timothy," I told him. "She'll always be our friend. She's… just going through some stuff right now."

"Donatello, my son."

We both turned our heads. Sensei was standing in the doorway of the lab.

"I would like to speak with you."

"Um, sure Master Splinter."

Donnie got up from his work table and walked away, following Sensei out of the lab. I sighed and followed them out. They both headed towards the dojo while I went for the pit, jumping up and landing on the couch. I glanced over and saw Raph sitting a few spots away from me, reading a comic. I gulped and turned away. How did I not see him there? _Okay, calm down… remember what Donnie said! He wasn't upset or embarrassed. Be cool…_ I pretended not to notice him as I pulled out my phone and pretended that I was messing with it.

"Hey," I said shortly.

I heard movement and I could feel him turn his eyes onto me. I could feel my nose start to turn red.

"Oh, hey."

I paused for a moment in confusion. Raph's voice didn't sound nervous or uncomfortable like I had thought it would. In fact, it sounded kind of happy. I turned my head towards him and saw that he was grinning at me. Not only that but he had closed his comic and set it down next to him. I did the best I could to contain my surprise as I smiled back, quickly thinking of something to talk about.

"So, what was up with training tonight? I thought you stopped giving Mikey shell wedgies years ago?"

"Huh? Well, I figured it wouldn't hurt to do an old-school trick of mine, you know?"

"You gotta be easier on him, you might actually hurt him someday."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Ah, you've always been overprotective of him. He's tougher than you think, he'll be fine."

I folded my arms and shook my head. A couple seconds of silence passed before I heard movement. I noticed that Raph was sitting a little closer to me than he was before.

"So… about earlier…"

I felt myself freeze as I felt my face start to heat up. Oh God, no…

"Look, don't ask, okay?" I told him. "I don't know what happened, so, please don't laugh."

Raph raised an eye brow at me. "I was just gonna say sorry."

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"Yeah."

"For what?"

"Well… after you said it, I know I just kinda sat there like an idiot, but I was just surprised. I didn't mean to embarrass you or whatever," he rubbed the back of his head, now looking embarrassed himself. "I guess… I'm trying to say sorry, or whatever."

My face burned less as my chest swelled up more. He didn't say that there was anything wrong with what I had said, so that was a good thing. He also wasn't embarrassed when he brought it up. I feel so much better right now.

"It's okay, dude. It was kinda my fault anyway."

Raph grinned at me and I grinned back, now feeling less nervous than before. Raph glanced around, clearing his throat.

"So, ah… did you mean it?"

"What?"

"Did you mean what you said then?" he held his face in his hands as he batted his eyes at me. "Am I really that cute when I smile?"

I reared my hand back and punched him in the shoulder. He flinched backwards, his mouth opening as he started laughing.

"Shut up! You're not funny!"

"I wasn't trying to be funny!"

Raph held his shoulder with his hand as he reared back and continued to laugh. I punched him a couple more times, now starting to laugh myself.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound from behind us. I turned around, still trying to catch my breath. The sound had come from inside the lab. Both Donnie and Sensei suddenly ran out of the dojo and straight into the lab. That's when I heard Donnie gasp.

"Timothy!"

I immediately jumped off the couch and ran straight for the lab. I made it just past the front doors before I skidded to a halt. There was a huge hole in the wall exactly where Timothy had sat, and Timothy was gone.

* * *

"…I didn't know it, but I think all of my April talk made Timothy go after her."

"You told your thoughts and feelings to a pile of guts in a jar?!" Raph yelled.

"He's a good listener!"

"But why?" I asked. "Why would Timothy go after April? To bring her back to us?"

"I don't think so… I think he might want to bring her to me."

I looked over at Leo and saw him trying to use his phone again. He had been trying to call April since we left the lair, but so far had no luck.

"Any word from April yet, Leo?"

"Not yet," he answered, dialing on his phone again. "How dangerous is this thing?"

"Well, he obviously doesn't know his own strength. He could end up hurting her."

Leo angrily hung up his phone. "Her T-Phone's still off. There's no way of tracing a signal."

"Actually, she might be at the park," Donnie said, then quietly added, "on a date…"

At that moment, the other three all skidded to a halt in front of us, finally pausing in their run over the rooftops. I slowly came to a stop behind them and turned with them to look at Donnie.

"And you know this how?" Raph asked.

"Um… maybe I was… f-following her…"

The others all gave Donnie very serious looks as I face palmed myself. I really wanted to be on Donnie's side when it came to his feelings, but it was stuff like this that made it very hard for me to not slap him in the head.

"Well, that's not creep-tastic," Mikey said sarcastically.

"Alright, so they're either at the park or April's headed back home," said Leo. "Donnie, you and I will take the park. Raph, Mikey, Nia, you guys head to April's."

"On it!" we said in unison.

And with that, we split off into the night.

Mikey and Raph both looked over the building, searching for April and, hopefully, not Timothy. While they were busy, I was dialing away at my phone, trying to call April. I was hoping that she might have turned her phone on, but so far no luck.

"Ugh, c'mon April, please…"

I sat and listened as my phone started to ringing. At that moment there was a loud explosion from behind me. I turned and ran to the edge of the building, looking over to the ground. There was a pile of flipped over cars just down the street from us. From the smoke, I could see several people running away and a pair of teens riding away on a bike. That's when I noticed a tiny dot of bright red hair flying by on the bike.

"Guys, I think it's April! Look-!"

I turned to see the other two staring down at the chaos, not even looking at me. I looked down and saw that something else was moving from the smoke. I squinted and suddenly saw a flash of green. A moment later, a giant, walking and moving mass of green good that was waving its arms and yelling loudly. It was Timothy.

"What the hell has Donnie been feeding him…?"

With that, we all jumped down from the building and climbed down. We ran up behind Timothy, taking out our weapons as we did.

"Not so fast, barrel full of uglay!" Mikey jeered.

"Donnie's right, Pulverizer's been drinking mutagen," said Raph. "You're not going anywhere, pal!"

" _No… Must find April…"_

Timothy turned and started walking away, his arms held out in front of him. Mikey leapt up, spun in the air and landed in front of him.

"What happened to you, Pulverizer?" he asked. "You turned into some kinda… mutagen man."

Timothy's eyes narrowed as he let out a strangled, staticy growl. We all stepped back, holding our weapons up. I held my kamas tightly, not wanting to use them. Timothy suddenly yelled as he raised a foot and stomped on the ground. The force of that stomp sent us all flying up into the air. I was kicked backwards and my side slammed into the fire escape on the building next to us. I fell to the ground as I heard another loud bang, and I looked up in time to see Mikey laying on the ground before the dumpster above him tipped over and trapped him inside. I looked over and saw that Timothy had Raph pinned under his foot, practically crushing him. He then opened up his large hand and slowly reached forward for Raph's face.

There was a flash, and out of nowhere Leo appeared, holding out one of his katanas. He had cut off the mutant hand that had been reaching for Raph. Timothy screeched and took several steps back, backing away from Raph. He cradled his slimy stump in his hand, looking sad and angry. Leo glared up at Timothy before starting to walk towards him. Then, Donnie jumped in from above and landed between the two mutants.

"No! Don't hurt him!" he begged.

"What?! That thing tried to melt my face!" Raph yelled.

"All he wants to do is make April our friend again!"

" _No…!"_ Timothy suddenly yelled. _"April not turtle friend… April only_ my _friend…!"_

Donnie whipped around. "What? I thought you were trying to get April back for me!"

At that, we all raised an eyebrow as we stared at Donnie. He realized what he had said and quickly corrected himself.

"Um… us?"

" _Turtles hurt April…"_ Timothy continued. _"Hurt me… Must destroy turtles…!"_

Timothy raised his slimy stump, and a brand new hand slowly morphed from his slime. We all raised our weapons, and Donnie took out his Bo staff. Timothy raised both of his hands and started to make his way over to us. That's when it happened. His bright, mutagen glow started to fade as his slim became less thick, and he started to sink to the ground. The organs in his tank were starting to swirl around and mess up and he let out an exhausted groan. It was like watching a robot's battery die.

" _Uh oh… powering down…"_

With that, his eyes rolled back and his tank fell over onto the ground. We all stood around for a moment before sheathing our weapons and walking forward.

"What happened?" asked Leo.

"He ran out of mutagen," said Donnie. "Quick! Let's get him into the Shellraiser!"

It took a while for us to get Timothy in the Shellraiser. With the added weight, the van moved a lot slower than normal, so we had to stick to alley's as we searched for the right entrance back to the lair.

"Remind me why we're bringing Mr. Personality here back to the lair?"

"What he did isn't his fault, Raph, it's mine," explained Donnie. "He was lonely. All my April talk made him want a friend."

"I don't understand," I piped up. "You and I talk with him every day. Doesn't he see us as friends?"

"His mind isn't his own right now, Nia. I don't think he can think properly even if he wanted to," he said. "Anyway… the important thing is to make sure we don't let him get hurt. Timothy's DNA could be the key to retro mutagen. I could cure April's dad and him if-"

Mikey gasped and we all turned. Timothy's long, stretchy mouth had slipped out of the tank and had gotten into some more mutagen on the shelf. It was all gone before we could do anything.

Timothy suddenly jumped up, causing the van to spiral out of control. He leapt forward and ran out to the street, screaming April's name. Leo quickly pulled the van over and we all ran outside.

"I thought he was out cold?"

"We split up and find him."

"There's no need to split up," said Donnie. "We know where he's headed."

We all started running out in the street, back around the block towards April's house. We headed up to the rooftops and continued there. It would be faster that way.

Soon, we were able to catch up to him just as he rounded the corner where April's apartment building was. He was standing in the alley next to it, spying in on the front where April and the Casey Jones kid stood talking. We all reached the alley and didn't hesitate to jump off the roof. We all landed in front of him, withdrawing our weapons.

"Where do you think you're goin', handsome?" Raph asked. "April's house?"

"She's not expecting visitors at the moment," I said, raising my kamas.

"Keep him in the alley! We can't let April's boyfriend see us."

Leo's words made Donnie sneer, but he made no comment.

" _Leave… Mutagen Man… alone!"_

Timothy ran at us and we each leapt at him.

Things were pretty crazy for the next few minutes. It was a constant cycle of one of us hitting Timothy after the other. Just one big mess. He kept swinging and flinging his fists at us, only hitting us a couple of times.

I ran around him in a circle and flung my kamas at him. They would slice through his slime and come back. I stopped in front of him just as Leo ran up to attack him. Timothy backhanded him out of the way, making him hit the wall. I gasped as I stared, and I was distracted long enough for Timothy to jump forward and shove me back several feet out of the alley. I slid on my butt until I reached the end of the alley and fell onto my back. I ground, rubbing dirt out of my eyes as I started to lean up. That's when I noticed that a person had been standing right outside the alley and they were now looking directly at me. A person with bright red hair, and a bright yellow shirt.

"April?"

"Nia?"

It was April. She must have just gotten back from her date. I sat straight up, staring up at her. For a brief second I completely forgot what was happening. This was the first time I had seen or heard from my friend in over two months, and I couldn't help but smile up at her. My smile quickly faded as I heard Timothy yell from the alley, and I looked to see that he was still on a rampage.

I sprang to my feet and ran at April, grabbing her and pushing her up the stairs to her apartment.

"Nia, what's going on out there?"

"No time to explain, there's a lot going on right now," I said quickly as I opened the front door. "Just stay inside, I'll let you know when it's safe again, okay?"

I gently pushed her inside the building and shut the door. I looked at the door for a moment before I turned and ran back towards the alley. When I returned, things were still going crazy.

" _Destroy you all…!"_

"Donnie, we have no choice!" said Leo. "Whatever Pulverizer- whatever Timothy was, is gone now."

"But, if we destroy him, I might never find a retro mutagen. What about April's dad?"

"What about April?" Raph asked seriously.

Timothy reared his head back and let out an angry roar.

"We need to distract him," said Donnie. "Misdirection and camouflage."

I understood what that meant. I smirked as I quickly pressed myself against the wall and slid into the shadows. The boy's eyes all turned white as I slipped into the shadows as well. Donnie slipped into darkness and quickly disappeared from even my line of sight. Timothy ran at random dark spots in the alley, but he never came close to one of us. His arms fell to his sides as he gazed around.

" _Turtles… gone…?"_

I could see the boys sneaking around in the shadows. I kneeled by the dumpster and softly kicked out a piece of trash. Timothy turned and walked towards it. At that moment Raph appeared out of the darkness, sliced and it Timothy, and then disappeared quickly. Timothy turned and started walking in that direction. Then, both Leo and Mikey appeared and started to attack him at the same time, knocking him back deeper into the alley. They quickly leapt back and disappeared as well. Timothy was becoming visibly angry now, glaring and clenching his fists. I leaned over next to a small trash can and called out.

"Hey, Mutagen Man!"

I quickly ran away back behind the dumpster. Timothy ran in the direction my voice had come from and kicked out the trashcan.

"No, over here!"

Timothy turned and ran at a dark mass that looked like Leo. He swung at it, revealing it to be nothing but trash.

"Hey, Timothy!"

I turned to look up. Donnie had returned. He was standing in the middle of the alley, holding a canister full of mutagen. Except, this mutagen looked different. It was brighter, and was closer to blue than typical acid green.

"Mutagen!" Donnie exclaimed. "That's right… this way…"

Timothy didn't hesitate to start marching towards Donnie, his hands held out for the mutagen.

" _More… mutagen…!"_

Suddenly, Timothy sprinted forward towards Donnie. He swung down and smacked Donnie out of the way, causing him to drop the canister. It broke as it hit the ground.

"No! Don't drink it, Timothy!"

But Timothy didn't listen, and his weird, long mouth extended and lapped up the mutagen on the ground. For a moment, he looked very pleased with himself. Suddenly, his face fell as he staggered backwards. He looked much less scary and looked more terrified.

" _Donnie…"_ he groaned. _"Something's… wrong…!"_

"I'm sorry, Timothy…"

Timothy's movements started to become more jagged and twitchy as the goo in his jar started to turn blue and solidify. Donnie started walking towards him, not minding that he was moving and swinging. A second later he was completely solid and stiff. He had been frozen.

"Wow! Awesome move, Donnie!" Leo praised, smiling. "Real scientific!"

"Yeah. Real scientific…"

Leo's face fell as he noticed the look of sadness on Donnie's face. Donnie walked forward until he was directly in front of Timothy. He raised a hand and pressed it against the glass.

"Don't worry, my friend," he whispered. "One day, I'll find a cure."

Raph walked up to stand next to Donnie. I thought he was going to say something smart, but the comforting arm placed around Donnie's shell told me otherwise.

"It's okay, Donnie. You did what you had to do," he said soothingly. "Let's just go home."

* * *

 **Donnie's P.O.V.**

It took half an hour to move Timothy from the alley to the Shellraiser. It took just as long to move him back into the lab. But, even after an hour my arms still felt heavy, along with the rest of me. The guys obviously had not a care in the world now and immediately went back to watching that new cartoon Mikey found. I couldn't be bothered to watch it. Too many painful reminders of how lonely I'll be for the rest of my life.

"How are you, my son?"

I jumped, startled by Sensei's sudden presence. Did he really have to do that every time? I relaxed quickly, and soon went back to feeling like crap.

"Sensei… I created a monster who could've squashed the girl I'm totally into. How do you think I feel?" I placed my head in my hands. "I'll probably never see her again…"

"April's decision to stay away is her own choice," Sensei told me. "We must let her come back in her own time."

"Yeah, but what if she never does?"

"Never lose hope, Donatello."

I lowered my hands as I thought about Sensei's words. Just then, I heard soft laughter coming from the exit. I turned to see Nia sitting on the steps, laughing as she spoke on her phone. She had called April right after we got home to let her know that she was safe, and they hadn't stopped talking since. The fact that April hadn't hung up on her was good enough, but the fact that Nia was smiling and laughing told me that the conversation was going better than what I would expect. And if April is okay enough to be speaking to Nia(after what April did), then maybe she'll be ready to be friends with us again. Suddenly, the dialogue of the cartoon caught my attention.

" _Oh, Dr. Blip, you saved me with all of your might, brave intelligence! How I adore this!"_

I looked up at the screen just in time to see the princess lean forward and begin kissing the scientist's cheek multiple times. His cheeks went red as the camera zoomed in and started to fade, indicating the end of the episode. I couldn't help but picture me and April in that scenario for a second, but it didn't last long. I smiled.

"Yeah, there's always hope."


	11. Mikey Gets Shellacne

**Heeeeeey everyooooone. So i've been pretty busy lately and I've finally managed to write something. I feel like I kinda shitcanned it a little, but I wanted to get something out. I'm gonna try to write more now that I've got a little bit of extra time, but updates will still be slow. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Ch. 6  
Mikey Gets Shellacne

 **Raph's P.O.V.**

"Toast is done!"

Donnie raised his staff and slammed the two pieces of burnt toast away. They flew across the kitchen towards Leo, who was holding a plate up to catch them. Instead, both pieces hit him in the face and he fell backwards. He took the piece that fell into his mouth out and grimaced.

"Might be a little overdone, Donnie."

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed two large oranges from the fruit basket and a red cup of the counter. Idiots. I'll show them how breakfast is made!

"Orange juice, comin' right up!"

I tossed the oranges into the air as I took out my sais. I leapt up and stabbed each of them onto a blade, and brought them down above the cup. I squeezed, but the juice went in every other direction instead of into the cup. One stream went straight for Donnie and hit him right in his eyes. He screamed, holding his face as he started running around the table in panic.

"AH! It stings, it stings!"

There was a loud crash and I turned around to see that Donnie had crashed into Leo while he had been frying some eggs. The pan flipped up off of the stove and came straight for me. It hit me in the chest and knocked me off the table. I groaned as I shot up and looked down. There were two sunny side up eggs stuck to my chest. I frowned as I whipped around to glare at both of them.

"Donnie, I told yah scrambled!"

"What are you guys doing?"

The other two shot up and we all turned around. Nia was standing in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at us. She was still in her gray pajama pants and blue tank, and her hair was still messy. She must have woken up and ran straight for the kitchen when she heard us yelling.

The second I saw her my voice caught in my throat. _Geez, can't she put her hair up or something first? Her bedhead is way too cute._

"Uh, Raph…"

She pointed at my plastron, giggling. I looked down and flinched when I saw that the eggs were still on my chest, then immediately slapped them off. My face was still burning as I looked away.

"Ah man," Leo moaned. "This place is a disaster!"

"Yeah, no kidding," said Nia. "You guys better clean this up before Sensei wakes up. I'm surprised he hasn't come out yet."

"It's not our fault we're the only ones awake," I retorted. "Mikey usually makes breakfast. What's the deal?"

"I think he's still in bed," Donnie groaned, rubbing his now bloodshot eyes. "I heard him talking with Vanessa on his phone most of the night."

"That's no excuse," I whipped around. "MIKEY! MIKEY, GET UP!"

"Yelling won't help, Raph," said Nia. "Training isn't til noon. If he wants to sleep in a bit, let him."

I rolled my eyes as I turned and started to pick up the mess I made. The other two did the same, picking up everything before starting to clean the counters.

"Did you want scrambled eggs, Nia?" Donnie asked.

"Sure."

"Are you gonna actually make scrambled this time?" I barked.

Donnie turned and was about to snap back when there was a sudden, loud scream. We all jumped and turned. It was Mikey.

"WHAT THE- I'M A _MUTANT_!"

We all turned to look at each other.

"Uh… he's just realizing that now?" asked Leo.

Before we could say anything there was the sound of footsteps and Mikey burst in through the curtains.

"Guys! Look at me! I'M COVERED IN TURTLE ZITS!"

Mikey pointed up at the top of his head and forehead, which were covered in multiple, tiny green zits. Nia's hands came up to cover her mouth and we all grimaced in disgust.

"Talk about shellance! You look like a green chimichanga," I said, pointing at him.

"Eh, don't worry, Mikey. It's… just part of being a teenager," Leo assured him.

"Have you ever had them?"

"Heck no!"

"Real inspirational, Leo," Nia said matter-of-factly.

"Guys, this isn't funny!" Mikey cried, his hands covering his face. "I can't get zits! Not now! I'm gonna- I have a- Ugh, what do I do?!"

"Chill out, for one," I said.

"Hold up guys," said Donnie. "I think this might be serious."

"Do turtles usually get zits?" Nia asked.

"No, and that's what worries me."

Donnie decided to take Mikey into his lab to examine the zits. He had taken one of his devices(another invention whose name I couldn't remember) and used it to scan over the zits on Mikey's head. He did this for about five minutes before finally stopping.

"Okay, Mikey," he began. "The good news is these so-called 'zits' aren't gonna hurt you. And, more importantly, they won't interfere with you making us breakfast."

I covered my mouth and snickered. Mikey and Nia both frowned at Donnie, not looking very amused.

"That's a relief," he grumbled.

Donnie put a hand on his shoulder. "But the bad news is they'll continue to spread all over your body. Spreading, and spreading, and spreading, _and spreading_ …!"

Donnie stood up from his seat as he spoke, his voice getting progressively creepier and creepier with each word. Mikey was huddled in his chair, as though he were trying to hide. He laughed nervously.

"Ha ha ha… and then they disappear in a couple hours, right? 'Cause, I kinda need them gone by tonight…"

Donnie shook his head. "No, and then your entire body will mutate into one, single, huge, giant, gargantuan ZIT!"

Mikey sat in his seat, frozen as he stared up at Donnie. Then, once the silence had settled, he sprang up and let out a huge, horrified scream. As he sat there screaming, Nia walked right up to Donnie, an angry look on her face, and gave him a good smack to the back of his head. Donnie flinched, muttering at apology.

* * *

 **Nia's P.O.V.**

"Mikey, come on!" Leo yelled as he pounded Mikey's door. "It's not as bad as you think. And Raph promises not to make fun of you anymore."

"And he wants to apologize," I added, glaring at Raph as I folded my arms.

He stared at all of us, rolling his eyes before walking forward.

"That's right, I'm sorry I called you 'crust muffin', and 'fungus face', and 'Godzitla, King of the Pus Monsters'. Now, come on out here!"

"No way!" Mikey yelled from behind the door. "Not while I'm covered in gross, slime-filled zits!"

"Technically, they're pustules filled with oil and sebum, which is even grosser than slime," Donnie pointed out.

Leo held a hand in front of him. "Uh, not helping Donnie, but thanks."

"Forget it, guys! I'm too hideous to be a ninja! I'll stay locked away in here… forever! And even longer if I have to…"

I sighed. "Let me try," I walked forward and knocked on the door. "Mikey, it's me. Please, open up."

"No!"

"Mikey, c'mon. I understand how you feel. I went through this once too, you know," I paused. "Remember… remember when I was 12, and I started getting pimples all over my face? I was so embarrassed I'd try to skip training so you guys wouldn't see me."

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that," Raph pointed out.

"Mikey, if anyone out here understands what you're feeling, it's me. Please, open the door."

There was a moment of silence. I turned to look at the others, and they all shrugged. Then, the door creaked open. Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist, pulled me into his room and shut the door before the others could stop him. I regained my balance as he locked the door and turned to face me.

"I can't leave like this Nia, not now. I'm gross!"

"Listen to yourself, Mikey," I gestured to him. "Are you really gonna get this worked up over having some zits?"

"It's not just 'cause I have zits," he said in a quieter voice. "I mean, it sucks and I hate it, but it's more than that."

"What is it then?" I asked.

Mikey shuffled up to me. He looked like a little kid who had a secret and felt guilty about it. I frowned at him. What was going on? Mikey rubbed the back of his head nervously, and suddenly his cheeks got darker.

"I, ah…I kinda have a date with Vanessa tonight."

I blinked, my jaw falling open. Surly, my ears were fooling me. I had not just heard that. Mikey chuckled, his cheeks still dark. It wasn't a trick.

"…a date?"

"Yeah… I asked her last night. We're gonna go to Murakami's place tonight, after he closes," he explained. "That's why I was up so late. I had to go ask him and see if he was cool with it."

"What?" I gasped. "Really?"

Mikey nodded.

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Dude, how long have you- I mean," I grinned. "How long have you been wanting to do this?"

"Since Halloween," Mikey put his hands behind his back, turning his foot on the ground. "I- I just figured she might be up for it, since she…"

Mikey's cheeks went pink for a moment, and I giggled.

"That's wonderful, Mikey."

"No, it's not!" he cried. "Because now, I'm covered in weird turtle zits! It's gonna ruin everything!"

"Mikey, listen to yourself," I said. "You're a giant, talking turtle. If that didn't stop her, nothing will. Besides, I can guarantee you that she's had her fair share of zits and pimples. I've been in her bathroom, I've seen the soaps and creams she uses. She's been there. She'll understand."

Mikey didn't look too convinced, but nodded anyway.

* * *

"So? You gonna tell us what you guys talked about or not?"

I rolled my eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you 'no'? I'm sworn to secrecy."

Raph shrugged. "Whatever. I don't know why that matters though, he still hasn't left his room yet."

"I can only imagine why."

He scoffed and went back to reading his comic. I turned to look at the TV when I heard something behind me. I turned and spotted Mikey poking his head out, and he had a pizza box covering his head. His eyes locked with mine, and he put a finger to his lips. I nodded. He started to tiptoe around the pit, very far away from it. He was heading in the direction of the kitchen and was almost there when Raph lifted his head and spotted him.

"Cool!" Raph yelled. "Mikey brought his own pizza! _His face!_ "

Raph pointed at Mikey as he started to roar with laughter. Mikey angrily threw down the pizza box and stomped on it. He glared at Raph, steam spewing from his ears. Raph continued to laugh for a few moments before finally catching his breath.

"Okay, okay! I'll stop!" he panted. "Now come on and zit down. HA HA HA, _zit down_! Oh, I crack myself up!"

"C'mon dude, you said you'd stop," I hissed at him.

"Oh relax, he's fine. Besides, I can't stop now. My creativity's just flowing right no-"

"Raphael!"

Raph froze and turned. Sensei was standing over him, a look of disappointment on his face.

"You should know better than to make fun of one's appearance," he said. "After all, how would the humans above react to yours?"

Raph stared up at him for a moment, then hung his head in shame.

"You're right, Master Splinter… Sorry, Mikey."

Mikey nodded. He shuffled over to the pit and sat down on the couch.

"Ugh… just kick me out, Master Splinter. I can't be a ninja when I look like a moldy pickle."

"And why not? I do not let my appearance affect me."

"Well, yeah! 'Cause old people never care how they look. Or smell…"

I snorted into my hands. Damn, Mikey. I glanced up to look at Sensei to see his reaction, but was surprised. He didn't look offended or anything. He was staring at Mikey, as though he were looking for something. Mikey laughed nervously, turning his head and whistling.

"My son… I sense there is something you would like to tell us."

"What?! No, not at all! Really, I didn't do anything…!"

I frowned and leaned forward to stare at Mikey's face. He stared back at me for a moment before he flinched. He knew what I was trying to do.

"You're lying, Mikey," I said finally.

Everyone in the room was staring at Mikey now. He was looking all around the room, visibly shaken. He was trembling and was starting to sweat. Finally, he snapped.

"OKAY, OKAY!" he yelled, making me step back. "You got me! I kinda, um… I sprinkled a little… mutagen. On my skin."

Mikey had reached behind him and pulled out a large jar that was filled with blue and green mutagen. I recognized it from a stowed away batch in the fridge in Donnie's lab. A batch that he had instructed us to not touch.

"WHAT?!" the boys and I yelled in unison. "ARE YOU KIDDING? WHY?"

"To become better!" Mikey exclaimed. "Cooler, you know? You guys treat me like I'm a big goofball all the time! So, I found this vile in Donnie's lab, and the label says it'll make you 'super cool'."

Mikey held up the jar, and there was a piece of scotch tape on there that read 'super cool'. Donnie stomped over and grabbed the jar.

"No, it says you're supposed to keep it 'super cooled'! As in temperature!" Donnie turned the jar to reveal that the rest of the tape did say 'super cooled'. "This was a reject batch of retro mutagen, Mikey! IT'S DANGEROUS!"

"Well, you could've made it a little more clear!" Mikey yelled back.

Donnie held the jar up and turned it around. It showed a bunch of stickers on there that said things like 'danger', 'rejects', 'will kill you', even one that said 'Mikey, don't eat me'.

"Still not that clear."

Donnie let out an exasperated sigh before grabbing Mikey's wrist and dragging him out to the lab. We all followed behind.

Donnie took some blood samples from Mikey to check out his system and how it was reacting to the zits. About 10 minutes after, as he was typing away on his computer, the screen lit up as it started beeping. Donnie stopped.

"Oh no…"

"Please tell me that's a good 'oh no'," Mikey begged.

"It's a terrible 'oh no'," said Donnie. "According to these blood tests, the mutagen in your system is unstable. You only have three hours until…"

"Until what? Wha-what'll happen to him?!" Leo snapped.

"In scientific terms- go boom!"

"I'm gonna explode?!" Mikey yelled.

"Like a massive zit!"

Raph, Leo and I all grimaced at Donnie's chosen example. Mikey backed up several feet, swaying back and forth. He looked like he was about to vomit. A few seconds later his knees buckled and he crumpled to the floor.

"But now that I know what caused this, I think I can engineer an antidote from the remaining sample," said Donnie.

Mikey sprang back up to his feet. "Yes, yes, yes! I love you, man!"

He flung himself at Donnie, wrapping his arms around him. Donnie pulled his arms back and began prying Mikey off of him.

"Ok- OK! Egh, c'mon!"

"Then you must start right away," Sensei said calmly.

"I'm just missing one key instrument, though," Donnie stood up. "A molecular centrifuge to mix the solution."

"No problem!" Mikey declared. "Money is no object!"

He stood still for a moment, before he turned and walked right up to Leo.

"Leo, can I borrow some cash?"

Leo rolled his eyes. Mikey frowned before suddenly popping up in front of me.

"Nia, can we use some of your playing money? Please?"

"Um, I don't think this is something we can just buy, Mikey."

"The only place I've ever seen a molecular centrifuge was at TCRI," said Donnie.

"But we blew that place up when we took down the Kraang," said Raph. "What could be left?"

Leo sighed. "Only one way to find out."

* * *

TCRI was trashed. There was no other way to put it. Parts and pieces of the battle were still left behind, along with bits of the building. We were sure that there would be someone there to keep pedestrians from entering the property, but there was no one. We were alone, as far as we knew.

We walked through the hallway towards the main room where the Kraang had been hiding before. It was a mess, but some pieces and supplies still seemed to be intact.

"Everybody spread out and start looking," said Donnie.

Donnie, Mikey, and Leo all went in separate directions, looking around the floor. Raph and I didn't move yet.

"How are we supposed to find anything in here? It's so dark," he said.

"Really? I can see just fine," I said as I started walking forward.

"Oh, lucky you then."

I giggled and started looking around in the rubble. I felt something tap my arm and turned to see Mikey, and he was holding something in his hand that I couldn't see.

"Nia, do you know what a centerfudge looks like?" he asked.

"Uh…"

It just dawned on me that I wasn't quite sure what it looked like either. I straightened up and turned to Donnie.

"Hey Donnie!" and I whistled.

He turned his head and Mikey raised the object in his hand. Only now did I see that it was a glass beaker.

"Is this a centerfudge?" he asked loudly.

" _Centrifuge_ ," Donnie corrected. "No, that's a beaker."

Mikey tossed it and looked around. I turned and started digging through the rubble again. I found a microscope and tossed it away, but couldn't find anything else. I was about to start on another pile when I heard something. My head snapped up as I turned towards the end of the room. Footsteps. Definitely footsteps, and they were getting louder.

"Ohh we're never gonna find it!" Donnie yelled. "This place is-"

"Shh sh sh! Listen!" Leo hissed. "You hear that?"

We all stopped and listened. I backed up slowly, the hair on the back of my neck standing up as I reached behind me and grabbed the end of my tessen. I stepped back into the shadows, and I saw the others do that same. The footsteps and voice got louder and louder until finally, somebody appeared. A tall man wearing glasses… and an ugly pink sweater. It was Baxter Stockman. He was carrying a large box full of what looked like his Mouser robots. He set the box down and picked up a piece.

"Soon, I'll be able to create my own mutant army! Powerful! Unstoppable-"

"Dorkster Blockhead?" Raph yelled out.

"It's Baxter Stockman!" he screamed. Then he gasped. "Ah! Turtles! Here? Now?!"

We all hopped out of our hiding spots and started to walked towards him. Stockman picked up his box and started to back up, knees shaking.

"He's got the centrifuge!" Donnie gasped. "Hand it over, Storkman!"

Stockman was such a nervous mess. He shook so much that everything he was carrying started to fall out of his arms. He managed to grab the centrifuge before dropping the box of bots.

" _Stockman_!" he emphasized. "And no! I found it first! MOUSERS! ATTACK!"

Suddenly, a large army of Mousers appeared out of all corners of the room. They screeched loudly before advancing on us. Mikey screamed, backing up as far as he could.

"AHH! Don't let 'em pop me!"

We all made a circle around Mikey, standing between him and the Mousers. One came straight for my face, and I sliced it when my tessen. Another came at my legs, and I kicked it back so hard it smashed against the wall. I reached into my back pockets, pulled out several throwing knives, and tossed them out. They all embedded themselves into several Mousers heads, knocking them down instantly.

There was a loud crash, and I turned to see what appeared to be part of the roof laying on the floor. We all looked up in time to see Dogpound falling through a hole in the ceiling. He landed with a loud bang, crushing several Mousers with his feet.

"Dogpound?!" Stockman cried.

"Well, if it isn't weasly little Stinkman!"

"Back off, Dogpound," Leo raised his katana to the mutant dog. "We found him first."

"Stinkman and the turtles?" Dogpound chuckled as he flexed his muscles. "HA! And I thought I was having a bad day."

Dogpound immediately turned his attention to us, wasting no time in charging at us. Making sure Mikey was back far enough, we all charged at Dogpound with our weapons. He charged back, his massive fists raised. Donnie and Leo ran forward first, then Raph, then me. Dogpound was able to smack us out of the way with just his hand. I flew back several feet, rolling on the ground. I skidded to a halt on my feet and immediately jumped back into the fight.

Everyone except Mikey was laying it all out on Dogpound. Leo swung his katanas, Raph tossed his sais, Donnie smacked Dogpound in the head, and I tossed my tessen up at him. He ducked his head to avoid it, and I caught it in my hand as it came back. Dogpound brought both of his hands down, Leo and Donnie both raising their weapons to block him. While he was blocked, Raph knelt down in front of him. I ran forward, ran up Raph's back, jumped up, and landed a kick right across Dogpounds face. He shook his head, and with an angry growl he pushed all of us back several feet, knocking us into a pile on top of each other.

"Guys! He's got the centerfudge!" Mikey yelled.

I raised my head to see Mikey chasing after Stockman, who was about to run out the door. Suddenly, Dogpound leapt up and landed right in front of Stockman, blocking his path.

"You're comin' with me!"

Dogpound grabbed Stockman with one hand and picked him up.

"Wha- N-no! please! I'm extremely fragile!"

We all quickly got to our feet, grabbing our weapons as we ran forward. Dogpound turned, and just before walking out he raised his other fist and punched a column. The walls started shaking, and pieces started falling from the ceiling. He smirked at us before running out of the room. Mikey was still running after them.

"My centerfudge!"

"Look out!"

Leo ran forward, grabbed Mikey, and pushed him out of the way just as the roof started to cave in. We all coughed and rubbed our eyes. Once my vision was clear I stood up and looked around to make sure the others were alright. I could see everyone around me. Mikey sprang to his feet and ran over to the others.

"Oh no! Guys! Are you okay?"

"Thanks Mikey," Leo said, coughing as Mikey helped him to his feet.

"They're gone," said Raph.

"And they have the centerfudge!"

"Centrifuge!" Donnie groaned out.

* * *

We were back at the lair now. There wasn't anything else we could do at the moment. We had lost Dogpound and Stockman with no idea where they are, we still didn't have the centrifuge, and Mikey's condition was getting worse and worse. His whole head and even his shell was covered in larger zits- if you could even call them that anymore.

"I can't believe that fleabag beat us!" Raph said angrily as he punched a beanbag chair. "I want a rematch!"

"Easy, Raph," said Leo. "Focus on what's important. We need to get that centrifuge to cure Mikey."

"He's getting worse and worse every minute," I said. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Not without the centrifuge," Donnie poked his head out of his lab. "His zits are getting more unstable. If any of them get popped they could cause a chain reaction? Ala my zit popping diagram here…"

"You have a zit popping diagram…?" I asked him weirdly.

He didn't answer me, but instead pulled out a large marker board with several pictures on it. The first one showed Mikey covered in zits from head to toe. The second one showed a zit being popped. The third was of the other zits growing bigger and bigger. The fourth was of many other zits popping on their own. Donnie flipped the board to the other side, where there was a fifth and final picture of Mikey completely exploding.

"WHAT?! So I pop either way?" he screamed.

"We just have to keep you safe," Donnie put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's too dangerous to leave the lair."

"But, I never got to visit a wax museum. Or learn pig Latin. Or open a mummy's tomb and the mummy comes alive, but he's so cool, we form a hip-hop group and travel around the world together in a golden UFO!" Mikey took a long deep breath. "I wanna do that…"

"Right…" Raph shook his head. "Listen Mikey, we're gonna get that centrifuge. We'll do whatever it takes to fix you."

Mikey beamed. "Wow, Raph!"

He raised his arms and went in for a hug, but Raph grimaced and quickly backed away.

"Okay, Dogpound and Boxcar," said Leo. "Where could they be? The old city dump?"

"Nah. They turned it into a retirement home," said Raph.

"The abandoned nuclear plant?"

"Now it's a nursery school," said Donnie.

"Ugh, what about that abandoned Kraang lab? The one where we found those wasps?"

I shook my head. "No go, dude. They turned that building into a pastry shop. Pretty good one, too."

"Oh! What about Baxter's old lab?" Mikey piped up.

The other three looked at each other for a moment, then shook their heads.

"Why would Dogpound capture Dexter and take him to his own lab?" Raph asked. "It makes no sense."

"See! You guys never take me seriously!" Mikey said, pointing at all of them.

"Maybe they went to Bradford's dojo…"

"Possibly… you think he went back to TCRI?"

"No, why would he go back there? It makes no sense."

I wasn't listening to them bickering. I was paying much more attention to the orange-clad turtle sneaking his way around us and out over the turnstiles. He hadn't noticed me. The others didn't notice me either as I backed away slowly and made my way over to the exit.

I peeked my head out and saw Mikey sitting just a few feet away. I saw him hit his fist against the wall.

"Fine! If you guys aren't gonna listen to me, I'm not waiting around to explode."

He stood up and started to run. I started running, too. I ran faster and faster until I caught up to him. He didn't turn around as he continued to run.

"Don't try to stop me, Nia!"

"I'm not trying to!"

Mikey turned to look at me. "Wha-?"

"I told you that if you ever plan on running off again, take me with you. Remember?"

Mikey stared at me through his swollen eyes, and smiled.

* * *

Mikey was right. Just like I knew he would be. Dogpound did take Stockman to his old lab. And boy, was it different. It had all kinds of gadgets and things that certainly weren't there before. The biggest difference being the gigantic tank of green, glowing mutagen. Looks like he really was trying to make his own mutant army.

"Stay quiet," I whispered in Mikey's ear. "If we do this right, we'll be in and out, no problem."

Mikey nodded. He and I both stood up, hunched over, as we slowly and carefully walked along the beams by the ceiling. I looked down to see Dogpound, Stockman, and surprisingly Fishface as well. I could hear their voices all the way from up here.

"Why haven't you taken this traitorous lump of flesh to Karai?"

"I will! After he turns me human again!"

Fishface gasped. "You can turn us human again?"

"Uh- Yes! Yes, of course! My intellect knows no bounds! Hehe… none."

I smirked. I knew Stockman had no idea how to make a retro mutagen. If Donnie couldn't come up with one, then there was no way anyone else could.

"Good! First order of business…"

Dogpound pulled out what looked like a silver collar and snapped it around Stockman's neck. Even from up here I could see what looked like vials of mutagen hooked to the collar.

"Ah! Is this… mutagen?!"

"I call it 'insurance'," Dogpound held up what looked like a switch in his hand. "Double-cross us, and boom! We get to see what you turn into. Some kind of lowly bug, I bet!"

"Psst!"

I looked up to see that Mikey was further ahead than I was. I hadn't even noticed that I stopped moving. I quickly made my way over to him, crouching next to him. I looked down to where he was looking, and saw the centrifuge sitting on a table below.

"I knew it!" he whispered. "I knew Baxter would be here, hatching a plan, wearing a dog collar!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, maybe not the dog collar part…"

At that moment we heard a strange noise coming from behind Mikey. It was the zits. They were shifting and morphing, making these strange wheezing sounds. Mikey gasped.

"No no no no, please! Not yet!"

At that moment they stopped moving and making noise. Mikey let out a sigh.

"You know what to do?" I asked.

He nodded, and then pulled out his kusarigama chain. He let go of the blade end, and slowly started to lower it down towards the centrifuge. It got lower and lower until finally, it reached the same level as the centrifuge. But, it swung out and poked Dogpounds shoulder. We both froze, but he just scratched his shoulder and didn't move.

I leaned in and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me, and I smiled at him. He smiled back. I reached down with both of my hands, and together we lowered the blade down to the centrifuge. We moved it just a little closer, and then finally it was hooked. We looked at each other, beaming. Slowly, we started to gently lift the centrifuge up. This was it. Just a little closer…

A large, fury hand came out and grabbed the chain, causing the centrifuge to fall. I was so surprised I let go of the chain. Dogpound glared up at us before yanking the chain down. Mikey was pulled from the beam and down to the ground below.

"Mikey!"

He turned back to his feet just in time to land on the ground in front of everyone.

"Fool!"

"Don't touch me! I'm highly contagious!" Mikey faked coughing. "Ack! See? So how 'bout I take that gadget and get outta your fur?"

Dogpound slammed his fist on the table. "I'd rather you stay," he growled. "And people think I'm ugly! Watch, Stinkman! I'm gonna tear this turtle apart myself!"

I leapt up and dived down, aiming my foot directly for Dogpounds head. He was about to charge at Mikey just when I landed on him. He whimpered as I leapt off of him and landed on my feet behind him. He whipped around to glare at me just as I pulled out my kamas. I was about to charge at him when I heard the sound of blades flying behind me. I whipped around in time to block a couple of throwing knives what were coming for my torso. Fishface stood there, smirking.

"Hello, beautiful," he pulled out his butterfly knife. "Did you miss me?"

"Oh yeah, about as much as I miss seeing your ugly mug!"

He growled and charged at me. I raised my right kama and blocked the attack for my face. I sliced at him and he dodged it. He spun his knife in his hand and threw it at me. I leaned back as far as I could to avoid it, and he leapt over me to catch it. At that moment I looked up and saw that Dogpound had chased Mikey back up to the beams and was fighting him there.

I suddenly leaned my head back to avoid a knife that had been heading straight for me. A second later my feet were kicked out from under me and I landed on my back, my kamas falling out of my hands. One of Fishface's large metal feet came down on my arm, pinning me in place. I grunted as I tried to push him off. He chuckled, and I glared.

There was loud creaking and a sudden crash. We all looked up to see Mikey hanging from the beams, holding only onto a broken piece of wood. Dogpound was hanging down now too, holding onto Mikey's ankle for dear life. And for good reason, for he was hovering over the giant tank of mutagen.

I took this opportunity to kick Fishface in the gut and knock him off of me. I sprung to my feet and looked back up to see that Mikey's grip on the broken beam was slowly slipping, and Dogpound's added weight wasn't helping. I was about to reach back and throw a knife at him to make him let go, but Mikey was one step ahead of me. He raised his nunchucks and smacked Dogpound right in the face. He yelped as he fell quickly downward and landed in the huge tank with a loud splash.

Mikey leapt from the beam and landed on his feet beside me. There were loud, muffled screams coming from inside the tank. We all stared in shock and concern at the tank. I wasn't sure whether to be happy he fell or worried that he fell in. I've never seen a mutant get mutated again before.

"Oh snap! Dogs _hate_ gettin' wet!" said Mikey.

There was a loud splash as the surface of the mutagen broke, and something big shot from it. It landed in a giant, black heap in front of us.

"Eh, some dogs…" Mikey muttered.

My heart dropped for a moment. What I saw looked like something I would see in a horror movie. It looked like a zombie dog that came from the underworld. Solid black, painfully thin, and claws and teeth that were the size of butcher knives, and just as sharp.

Suddenly, I felt something knock me over and I landed on my side.

"Nia!"

I looked up in time to see Mikey get pushed away towards the tank by Fishface. I glared up at the fish, but paid him no mind as I watched Bradford walk quickly towards Mikey, one of his claws scratching the glass of the tank.

Fishface threw one of his knives at me and I rolled over to avoid it. I jumped to my feet and started sprinting forward. I jumped up and leapt over Fishface, landing behind him and running towards Bradford. I heard something shift behind me and I turned around, raising my kama just in time to stop Fishface's knife from going into my chest. I heard a yell and turned my head to see Bradford holding Mikey in his claws.

"I feel the mutagen coursing through me!" Bradford growled in a deeper, snarlier voice. "I'm faster, stronger, more powerful than ever! I feel like a ninja again!"

"Plus you don't have zits, which is a bonus," said Mikey.

"To thank you for this, I'll make your end swift."

Bradford raised Mikey and threw him, shell first, right at the wall in front of him. Mikey screamed, tossing his chain out to hook around a nearby beam, and slow him down. He slowed down just in time that when he touched the wall, the zits didn't burst. I turned back to Fishface and quickly elbowed him in the face, kneed him in the gut, and roundhouse kicked him off of his feet. I looked back around as Bradford roared.

" _Raaah_ yourself, you razor-faced dog!"

" _Don't ever call me dog_!"

"You got it, _Razar_!"

Razar growled and reached his claws out for Mikey. At that moment, a large sai flew through the air and hit Razar's paw, knocking it out of the way.

"Get away from my brother!"

I looked up to see Raph fly through the air as he gave him a powerful kick to the chest, knocking him down. There was a loud smack, and I turned to see Fishface go flying. Leo and Donnie suddenly appeared, landing on either side of me.

"Oh, hey guys," said Mikey.

"You're lucky we noticed you were gone in time, Mikey," Leo snapped.

"Even luckier that I knew you'd come here," said Raph. "What were you think-"

But he was cut off as Fishface leapt forward and kicked him aside. I reached into my back pocket and threw several knives in his direction, and he dodged them. Razar had gotten up again and had started charging towards all of us.

"Scatter!"

"Um…so what happened to Dogpound?" Donnie asked as we ran away to avoid the oncoming mutant.

"A huge mistake, that's what," I answered seriously.

"He got double mutated!" said Mikey. "Now I call him 'Razar'!"

Razar raised his head and let out a mighty roar, causing us all to flinch. Leo suddenly appeared beside him and lunged forward, holding his katanas in the air. Razar blocked him, picked him up in one hand and threw him aside. Donnie ran forward, hollering as he spun his Bo staff above his head. Razar blocked it and grabbed Donnie by his shoulders before he could avoid him. Then Raph, who had climbed to the top of the tank when no one was looking, leapt down while aiming his sais right for Razar's head.

Knowing what was going to happen before it did, I took out my kamas and charged forward. Razar used Donnie to smack Raph out of the way, knocking them both away in the process. I leapt up and brought my kamas down, the blades slashing into his raised arm. They did nothing. There were no marks left behind. I was so surprised that he had time to grab me by the forearm and fling me away. I slammed against the tank and crumpled to the floor.

"AH! The centerfudge!"

I looked up to see Mikey sprinting past Razar, and snatching the centrifuge that had been laying by the mutant dog's feet. But just as Mikey grabbed it, Razar shove him away, knocking the device away. I grabbed my kamas, pushing myself back up. As I did, I heard loud screeching coming from the side of the room. Stockman had summoned more Mousers. I heard the others groan in annoyance as we charged the robots with our weapons.

As we fought the Mousers, I could see Razar continuing to chase Mikey around. Mikey literally bounced and crawled all over the walls and ceiling, and Razar continued to keep up.

"Guys, I'm bursting at the seams," Mikey yelled as he hung from the upper beams. "And Razar's gonna pop me!"

Razar ran forward, looking like he was ready to pounce. I immediately changed targets and ran straight for him, throwing one of my kamas at his head. It his him pretty hard, and he turned his head and snapped at me. I thrusted my other kama up to his face, but he dodged and suddenly body slammed me. I turned on my side to grab my kama and suddenly I could feel him stepping on my back hard, pinning me to the ground. He dug his foot into my back, a sharp pain went through my body, and my vision went dark. I was in a dark messy living room, being pulled by my hair. He was pressing his knee into my back, pinning me down. _No... not now!_

My vision cleared again as I felt the sharp pressure disappear. I lifted my head to see Razar running off in the opposite direction, directly towards Mikey. Before I could move Razar reached him, and slashed. Mikey dodged in time, and Razar's claws dug into the fat power cable plugged into the wall. He lit up like a Christmas tree as he was electrocuted. Mikey raised his hands and cheered.

"Yeah! You just got shell-shocked, son!"

"Everyone, to high ground. Now!" shouted Donnie.

I quickly got up on my feet and followed the others as they all climbed and jumped the walls. As soon as all of us were up on the ceiling beams, Donnie took his staff and smacked a nearby sprinkler. All of the sprinklers started spewing water onto the ground below. There was a pause, and then a flash as everything below was electrocuted. All the Mousers below blew up, one by one. And each of those goons fell down, one by one.

Once all was quiet except for the sprinkling water, I finally turned to get a good look at Mikey. I blinked. The amount and size of the zits had doubled in the last 20 minutes. They were covering his whole shell, legs, arms, especially his face. The zits around his eyes were so huge it was a wonder he could even see. He looked beyond recognizable at this point.

"Dude, I'm about to pop and I think we destroyed the centerfudge!" Mikey cried out.

"Don't be so sure."

Raph grinned proudly as he reached behind him, and pulled out what was obviously the centerfudge. Mikey gasped, beaming with delight. Knowing that Mikey was going to be okay was all I could think about, and without caring I gave Raph a relieved and adoring smile. He smiled back.

* * *

Once we got home, Donnie immediately raced to his lab to fix up the antidote. Once he had the centrifuge, making it was no problem; only took thirty minutes. I watched curiously as he dripped the solution onto the little, white cleaning pads he had insisted we needed.

"Antidote's ready, Mikey," Donnie said.

"Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!"

Mikey ran forward and flung himself onto the lab table, sweeping his arms around the surface just the grab the tiny pads. He turned and shuffled away, scrubbing the solution onto his bulging zits. From beside me, I could hear Leo and Raph snickering quietly.

"Did you have to put the antidote on those acne pads?" Leo whispered.

Donnie smirked. "No, but it is hilarious."

I elbowed Donnie in the arm, and he just laughed. Mikey continued to rub the antidote on himself for a good five minutes before tossing the overused acne pads.

"Awesome!" he cheered. "Alright. So, when do these bad boys finally leave?"

"Well, I'm not too sure," Donnie said. "Could be ten minutes, could be and hour, but they'll come off soon."

"An hour?!" Mikey looked down at his T-phone for a moment, then groaned. "Aw man, is that enough time?"

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked him.

Mikey didn't answer, and instead left the lab without saying a word.

"What's his problem?" Raph asked angrily. "He's not gonna become a giant, walking zit bomb. He should be happy."

"Yeah. Mikey usually panics over stuff like this, but… he seemed particularly worried about something."

"Like something other than the zits," added Leo.

As they spoke, I had slowly tip toed further away from them, trying to reach the exit as quietly as possible. As soon as I was close I turned and began to walk out.

"Nia…"

I froze, and turned. The boys were all looking at me funny, arms folded.

"C'mon Nia, you talked to him earlier," said Raph. "You probably know what's up with him."

"You never told us what you guys talked about earlier," added Donnie.

"Yeah, tell us!" begged Leo.

I looked at all three of them as they all stared back at me. I stood there for a moment, contemplating whether or not I should. Then, I caved.

"Ugh, alright!" I said. "But, you can't laugh, or be mean at all."

"Why would we be mean?" asked Donnie.

I raised my eyebrows, giving him a knowing glare. He shuffled his feet nervously, nodding.

"Fair point."

"Enough, just spill it!" Raph demanded.

I sighed. "Okay… the main reason Mikey was so worried about his zits is because he, well… he's supposed to be going out with Vanessa tonight."

There was a silent pause.

"…Going out?" asked Leo.

"Yes."

"'Out' out?" Raph added.

"Yes."

"With Mikey?!" Donnie said, surprised.

"Yes!" I said, exasperated. "Yes, okay? Mikey has a date with Vanessa tonight."

"Like-like a… boyfriend-girlfriend kind of date?"

I paused. "I… don't know if they're actually dating yet, but I guess so?"

All three of them turned to look at each other, their eyes wide and surprised. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh come on! After what she did on Halloween, are you guys really that surprised?"

"I thought maybe somebody spiked the punch and she just had too many," said Raph seriously.

"I thought Angus dared her to do it or something," Leo admitted.

I glared at them, feeling surprised and a little disappointed in their reactions.

"Come on guys," I said. "Can't you see how important this is to him? It's the one thing that he's been thinking about since this morning. He wasn't just worried about having zits, he was worried about her seeing them and being disgusted. Now everything's fine and he's gonna get to go out with the girl he likes. We've been through a lot of crap, he's earned this. So please, don't ruin it for him."

Raph huffed. "I'll believe it when I see it."

He walked out of the lab. I looked at the other two, who shrugged and followed suit. I sighed and followed them.

Nothing happened for a good 45 minutes. But, as we all sat around the TV, watching Leo as he turned on Space Heroes, we heard a loud yell of delight. I turned my head to see Mikey suddenly sprinting out of his room. He skidded to a halt right at the pit, a smile on his face, which was completely clear.

"It worked!" he hollered. "Look at me! Yeah boy! I'm super cute again. Woo!"

Mikey suddenly ran forward and wrapped his arms around Donnie, lifting him up off the ground in a massive hug.

"Thanks Donnie, you're the best!"

Donnie groaned at the pressure before he was quickly released.

"I am happy to see you home again, my children."

We all turned. Splinter had entered the living room. His eyes landed on Mikey, and he smiled proudly as he walked towards him. Mikey stepped out of the pit to stand beside him.

"I must commend you on your resolve, Michelangelo," he said. "You thought you needed to improve yourself, but you had everything you already needed inside. In here…"

He pressed a finger to Mikey's chest. Mikey smiled up at his master, looking very proud of himself. He suddenly whipped around, smirking at us.

"See guys? Who's right about Baxter's secret hideout, huh? Me. Yep."

"You had no clue," Leo jeered.

"As I recall, he was the one that suggested it and you guys said it was bull," I mentioned. "Don't be getting a swollen ego over though, Mikey."

Suddenly, Donnie gasped. "Oh no… Mikey! You- you have a zit forming on the end of your nose!"

"Are you kidding me?! No! WHYYY!"

Mikey threw his arms up into the air, yelling in fear and despair. Before I could decide whether or not to say something, he suddenly stopped screaming. He felt all over his face and head, looked at his arms and shoulders, and only then did he realize that there was nothing. I covered my mouth as I nearly snorted. The boys however, were not shy about laughing out loud to his face. Mikey glared, stepping into the pit and walking over to them.

"Donnie, I'm gonna-"

"Mikey?"

Mikey froze and turned around. We all looked up to see Vanessa standing in front of the turnstiles. She was wearing a white, sleeveless button up covered in tiny black roses and long brown pants. Her hair was pulled halfup half down, revealing more of her face. She definitely had some color around her eyes, and it was hard to tell if the blush around her cheeks was makeup or not.

She walked forward slowly, looking confused. All the boys were staring at her; Mikey had a large grin on his face, and the other three had their jaws hanging open. I gave them an 'I told you so' look as I folded my arms.

"Did I walk in on something again?" she asked us.

"No," everyone said in unison.

"Don't worry, you missed all the crazy stuff," I told her. "You shouldn't have to worry about anything popping up for another few hours or so."

She laughed. "Well, if nothing else is going on, then you won't mind if I steal your brother away for a little while, do you?"

She looked down at Mikey, the blush in her cheeks becoming darker. Yep, definitely not makeup. Mikey gave his brothers a smirk and a salute before turning and walking right up to Vanessa.

"You look awesome," I heard him whisper to her.

She giggled. I turned my head as I saw Sensei slowly walk from one side of the pit to the side Mikey and Vanessa were on. They both turned to look up at him, standing next to each other, looking almost as if they were at attention. He eyed them both for just a moment before smiling.

"Both of you, have fun and be safe," he turned to look directly at Vanessa. "Try to have my son back by 11 Vanessa, he does have training in the morning."

Mikey groaned, looking bummed out (whether because of the curfew or the morning training, I couldn't tell). But, Vanessa nodded immediately.

"No problem, sir," she nudged Mikey. "C'mon, I'm starving."

Mikey's face lit up. "Girl, you read my mind!" he exclaimed. "You wouldn't believe what happened today!"

"Try me."

We all watched as they walked out through the turnstiles together and disappeared around the corner. I turned to look at the others and had to keep myself from laughing at their faces.

"You know, I never thought it would be possible for _any_ of us to get a girlfriend," Leo admitted out loud. "But, even if I thought it was, I never thought Mikey would be the first to get one."

"I guess Nia was right," said Donnie. "We should've seen this coming after Halloween. Still, it's… odd."

"No kidding," Raph grumbled, surprisingly angry. "Question is, how? I mean, look at him! He's so… him!"

"Well, he must be doing something right," I piped in.

Raph glared at me for a second before turning and stomping out of the pit, heading straight for his room. I felt my chest deflate a little as I heard him slam his door. Why was he so upset?

"I'll be right back," I told the others.

"There's no point, Nia," said Leo, who seemed annoyed by Raph's actions. "You don't even know what he's mad about."

I nodded, but continued to head towards the bedroom. I reached Raph's door and was about to knock on it when I stopped. I thought about what I was doing, and why I was doing it. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe I'm just being overly concerned, as usual. Maybe I'm just overly worried about him because I have a stupid crush on him. Still, I wanted to know what was wrong. I raised my hand to knock again when I heard him speak.

"How does he get so lucky, Spike?" he asked quietly. "He just acts like a dork and Vanessa falls for it. Are all girls like that?"

Spike, of course, didn't respond. Raph sighed.

"I don't get it… Should I just cut my losses and say it? Or what?"

I frowned. Say what? I shook my head and finally knocked on the door. I heard shuffling and then footsteps before the door opened.

"Not now, Le- Oh, sorry Nia."

I shrugged. "Mind if I come in?"

Raph nodded and closed the door behind me. I turned to face him. I decided to cut to the chase.

"What was that about?"

Raph rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Why did you get so upset?" I asked. "I mean, okay. You were wrong about Mikey not having a date, but come on. You can't be that mad about it, are you?"

Raph shook his head. "Why does it matter?"

I shrugged. "You just seemed so angry about Mikey being on a date, I was just-"

"It's not because he was on a date," Raph said exasperatedly. "It's just… I can't believe it happened to him."

I raised my eyebrow at him, and then it hit me. He wasn't upset that his brother was out with a girl; he was upset that he got a girl first.

"Well, why would that make you upset?"

"'Cause he's been walking around here acting like it's so easy for him!" Raph said, now starting to sound mad again. "Like, he's not even nervous about it or embarrassed at all! He just goes with whatever goes through his head, and it always works out. He's not second guessing himself, he's not scared or anything, it's… it's weird! I mean, shouldn't he be?"

"You have no idea if it's easy for him or not," I retorted. "For all we know, he could've been a nervous wreck out there in front of her. That's the main reason why he freaked out about the zits this morning, remember? And what makes you think he should be more nervous than he is? Why, are you an expert?"

"No, but I-"

He stopped, his face going blank for a second. He looked as if he had just let something slip that he wasn't supposed to. I frowned.

"You what?"

Raph turned away from me. The bit of his face that I could still see looked darker than before.

"I kinda… I know what it's like, that's why."

"What?"

"To like someone."

Raph gulped as he slowly turned his head to look at me, looking like I had just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. I stared at him for a moment, eyebrows raised. Did I hear correctly. He sighed irritably, and then he strode forward and walked out of the room, leaving me surprised and confused.


End file.
